RIP Bart Starr
- Thread starter psuro
- Start date
Being a big Green Bay fan growing up in Pittsburgh in the 60's (Steelers were awful), this is a tough one. Will never forget the "Ice Bowl' vs. Dallas.
IIRC; He sat the bench for several years before getting a chance to play. Finally, Lombardi put him in against the Bears. First couple of plays Dick Butkus, one the meanest and baddest dudes to ever play football, sacks him on a blitz up the middle. Split his upper lip in two, knocks out a tooth, and Starr's jersey is covered in blood. Butkus smiles and said "Welcome to the big time, kid!" Starr looks him in the eye and says "F@&# you, Butkus" and went back to the huddle to call the next play. Lombardi says thats when he knew he had his quarterback for years to come.
I never heard a bad word said about Bart Starr. He was a fierce competitor but a true gentleman. Rest in peace.
Despite growing up in Pittsburgh, a close friend was a major Packers fan. Her father took her to Canton for his HOF enshrinement in 1977 and everyone in attendance was given a copy of his speech. Afterwards, she mailed Bart Starr her copy and requested an autograph. Not only did he comply with the autograph request but he also edited the text of the HOF-provided speech to provide an actual transcript of his delivered speech.
Spinmeister Time to get your story corrected, Dick Butkus entered the league in 1965 . When Butkus was a rookie, Bart Starr had already led the Packers to 2 NFL championships.
As a die-hard Colts fan, I was a Unitas guy all the way. Starr and the Pack had the Colts' number more often than not, though, so my pre-teen self had to try to reconcile that Starr was at least Unitas' equal! While I loved the Colts, I hated/respected the Pack. They had so many great players and an all-time coach and were so dominant for a good stretch, and Starr was the center of it all, it seemed. Not flashy, never gonna have the best of the best stats, but looking back, it is easy to see how he lead them with confidence and poise.
RIP, Bart Starr. One of the best ever.
These passings always bring me to nostalgia time:
The Pack still missed that FG in the '65(?) playoff game, though. My Colts was robbed! That was the game where Unitas and Morrall were both out with injuries, and Tom Matte played "QB". More like a single-wing QB approach... he threw just a handful of passes and maybe completed 1 or 2! I think a DB was the backup QB if anything were to happen to Matte. 13-10 Pack, or so it says in the books, but replay shows it is still 10-10 ~54 years later! Grrrr.
RIP, Bart Starr. One of the best ever.
These passings always bring me to nostalgia time:
The Pack still missed that FG in the '65(?) playoff game, though. My Colts was robbed! That was the game where Unitas and Morrall were both out with injuries, and Tom Matte played "QB". More like a single-wing QB approach... he threw just a handful of passes and maybe completed 1 or 2! I think a DB was the backup QB if anything were to happen to Matte. 13-10 Pack, or so it says in the books, but replay shows it is still 10-10 ~54 years later! Grrrr.
From that era, could have been any number of tougher-than-nails players, and not necessarily limited to a LB. If it was vs. the Bears, coulda been Doug Buffone, a DE, e.g.
I had a book purchased in the 1960's when I was in grade school, paperback Scholastic Books "Bart Starr"...a chapter in the book is titled, "Who is better, Starr or Unitas" Can't remember the details and gave the book to my son years ago....
Since we have the Colts and Dick Butkus in the same thread, let me tie this together. In the 2018 draft the Colts drafted a OL from ND in Round 1 and a LB from SC State in Round 2. Both of them made first team All-Pro. It was the first time that two rookies on the same team made first team All-Pro since 1965 when the Bears drafted Dick Butkus and Gayle Sayers. Drafting Butkus and Sayers in the same draft is a helluva draft.
The year was 1961. Starr had been in the league for five years, and was in his third as the Packers starter. The opponent was, indeed, the Bears, but the linebacker was Waynesburg PA native Bill George. Doubt that Starr said anything untoward to George because he lived to play another day.
Here’s a link to Jerry Kramer telling the story.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/greenb...8/01/jerry-kramer-talks-about-bart-starr/amp/
---
Thanks. Searched but couldn't find it.
And great quote by Kramer; “Bart was like methane,” Kramer said. “He was colorless, tasteless, odorless and virtually invisible. I don’t remember anything he said or anything he did.”
Lombardi loved Starr. In his book Kramer said that the only time Lombardi got on Starr was when he needed the team to think he didn’t have favorites.
1965, Earl Morrall was with the Giants. Gary Cuozzo was the backup. Morrall didn't join the Colts till 1968.
