R. I. P. Bart Starr, NFL Hall of Fame Quarterback

Former Green Bay Packers quarterback Bart Starr, who helped the Packers win five NFL Championships including the first two Super Bowls, died May 26th, 2019 at age 85. Starr had been in poor health since 2014, when he suffered the first of a series of multiple strokes.

Starr was drafted by the Packers in the 17th round of the 1956 draft (yes, the draft used to be much bigger) out of the University of Alabama. Green Bay was 4-8 in 1956 (the NFL season was 12 games until it expanded to 14 in 1961), 3-9 in 1957, and then hit bottom with a 1-10-1 record in 1958. Everything changed in 1959, when Vince Lombardi became head coach of the Packers. Green Bay was 7-5 in 1959, and in 1960, won the NFL Western Conference championship with a record of 8-4. Green Bay lost the NFL Championship game in this era before the Super Bowl 17-13 to the Philadelphia Eagles.

It was the only playoff game Starr and Lombardi ever lost. The Packers won the NFL Championship in both 1961 and 62 with wins each time over the New York Giants. Green Bay won the NFL Championship again in 1965, this time over the Cleveland Browns.

In 1966, Starr was named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player. He topped that off by completing 19 of 38 passes for 304 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions in the NFL Championship game, leading the Packers to a victory in a 34-28 win over the Cowboys in Dallas. Then Starr led the Packers to a 35-10 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl I between the NFL and the then AFL prior to the 1970 merger of the leagues. Starr completed 16 of 23 passes for 250 yards and two touchdowns and was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.

 
Green Bay won its third NFL Championship in 1967 beating the Cowboys in Green Bay on December 31st in one of the most famous NFL games in history. Game time temperature was -13 degrees in what would be called the Ice Bowl. With the Packers inside the Dallas 1 yard line on third down with 16 seconds to play, trailing 17-14, Green Bay took its final time out. Two running plays by the fullback had been stopped short on the icy turf, and Starr told Lombardi he would take it in. The game would be won or lost on the next play; there was no energy left in the bitter cold for attempting a field goal to tie and send it to overtime. Upon the snap, Starr followed the blocks of guard Jerry Kramer and center Ken Bowman in for the winning score in one of the most iconic plays in NFL history.

Green Bay then beat the Oakland Raiders 33-14 in Super Bowl II with Starr again being named the game’s MVP. Starr completed 13 passes for 202 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions in the victory, which was the last game Vince Lombardi coached for the Packers.

Starr retired after the 1971 season. He was 94-57-6 in the regular season and 9-1 in the post season in his career, and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977. Starr was the head coach of the Packers from 1975 through 1983, but did not achieve the success on the sidelines that he had as a player, with a record of 52-76-3 in the regular season, and 1-1 in the playoffs. His career quarterback passer rating of 104.8 is still the NFL record.

In 2015, an ailing Starr returned to Green Bay for the last time. On Thanksgiving night, the Packers retired the number of another great former quarterback, Bret Favre, at halftime of the Packers-Bears game. Current Packers QB Aaron Rodgers was leading the Packers that night in the only time the three greatest quarterbacks in Packers history were together.

Starr is the second former Packer from the Lombardi Era and Ice Bowl to die in 2019. On April 12th, offensive tackle Forrest Gregg died at age 85.