STARR, Bryan Bartlett ("Bart")

(b. 9 January 1934 in Montgomery, Alabama), outstanding Green Bay Packers quarterback (1961–1972) and coach (1975–1984); member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Starr was one of two children of Benjamin Bryan Starr, a career noncommissioned U.S. Air Force master sergeant, and Lulu Inez Tucker, a homemaker. Starr was born knowing first-hand what stern discipline and unquestioning responsibility were all about, as his father ran the Starr household as he did his squadron. Starr attended Hurt Military Academy from 1940 through 1945. In the spring and summer he played baseball in a vacant lot, but in the fall he switched to football, playing a "championship" game without helmet or pads before an imaginary crowd. Starr became hooked on football after watching Harry Gilmer, the University of Alabama's spectacular tailback. He soon had a new hero and a new goal—to throw the football as well as Gilmer.

Starr played wingback at Baldwin Junior High in Montgomery using the Notre Dame "box formation" developed by Knute Rockne. He also played running back, blocker, and receiver. When Starr entered Sidney Lanier High School in 1949, his coach Bill Moseley said that Starr had no outstanding natural football ability but that his mind was focused totally on football. In the summer of 1951 arrangements were made for Starr to receive specialized training from Vito ("Babe") Parilli, Kentucky's All-America quarterback. Parilli taught Starr the fundamentals of the game and gave him confidence in himself. He also gave Starr a vision of becoming Coach Paul ("Bear") Bryant's star player for the University of Kentucky Wildcats. After Starr's senior year he was selected to the All-Star team and was recruited by every Southeastern Conference (SEC) school except Tennessee. Starr and his friends visited Bear Bryant at Kentucky, but his father wanted him to play for Alabama, and Tuscaloosa was much closer to the school Starr's girlfriend attended.

Starr received a scholarship to play for Alabama, securing a spot as the third quarterback. In 1953 during his freshman year, Alabama played Syracuse in the Orange Bowl and defeated them 61–6. During this game, Starr threw 29 passes and completed 17 for 170 yards. In his sophomore year, Starr became Alabama's starting quarterback. His punting average was 41.4, second only in the SEC to the University of Georgia's Zeke Bratkowski. He spent the 1954–1955 season sidelined with back problems while Alabama scored a disappointing 4–5–2. Starr married Cherry Louise Morton on 8 May 1954; the couple had two children. The next season, he severely sprained his ankle and sat on the bench while Alabama lost ten straight games, ending the year at 0–10. Alabama's basketball coach Johnny Dee spoke on Starr's behalf to the director of player personnel for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL), who recommended Starr as a prospect. In January 1956 Starr was selected in the seventeenth round, the 200th player chosen overall. Starr graduated from Alabama in 1956 with a B.A. in history and prepared for his transition into professional football, embarking on a rigorous training program to improve his confidence in passing.

After seeing Starr in scrimmage, the Green Bay coach Lisle Blackburn chose Starr to back up Tobin Rote as quarterback in the preseason games. Starr made the team, and during his first season he had forty-four attempts and completed twenty-four, including two touchdowns and three interceptions. The Packers ended the year with a 4–8 record. Starr had been commissioned in the Reserve Officer Training Corps on college graduation. One month after the season ended he was called to active duty in the U.S. Air Force and assigned to Eglin Air Force Base near Panama City, Florida. After a physical revealed his back problems, he received a medical discharge and returned to Green Bay in early May. After Tobin Rote was traded to the Detroit Lions in 1957, Starr and Babe Parilli rotated quarterbacking, and the Packers finished with a 3–9 record. Then Coach Blackburn was released, and Ray ("Scooter") McLean, an assistant coach at Green Bay, was named his successor. Despite McLean's experience and friendly personality, the Packers won only one game and ended 1958 with discipline and morale at an all-time low. On 4 February 1959 Vince Lombardi became head coach and general manager of the Packers. Lombardi was a consistent and disciplined teacher, and his lessons extended far beyond the football field. During his first year as coach, the Packers finished the season with a record of 7–5.

Starr's first big game after Lombardi became coach was on 17 December 1960 against the Los Angeles Rams. With Starr as quarterback, the Packers beat the Rams 35–21, winning the Western Division title. They then lost the league title game to the Philadelphia Eagles. Starr had an opportunity to become the Packer's starting quarterback in 1961, when Lamar McHan was traded. On 31 December 1961 Green Bay hosted its first championship game against the New York Giants, which they won with a score of 37–0.

With the emergence of the American Football League (AFL) in 1965, there was increased competition for first-rate players. Green Bay, a provincial city in northeastern Wisconsin, was somewhat isolated from the turbulence that was shaking the foundations of professional football, where contracts were being negotiated for previously unheard-of salaries. Starr had become involved in a number of business ventures in Wisconsin that supplemented his football salary, including television commercials and ownership of several automobile dealerships, and he opted to stay with Green Bay. During the 1960s Starr led the team to six Western Division titles, five league championships, and two Super Bowl wins. He was named Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl I (1967) and Super Bowl II (1968). Starr led the NFL in passing in 1962, 1964, and 1966, and was named NFL Player of the Year in 1966.

On 31 December 1967, a bitterly cold afternoon, Starr climaxed his great football career by executing a quarterback sneak and scoring a touchdown from the Dallas Cowboys one-yard line with only thirteen seconds remaining in the game. The Packers won the NFL championship with a score of 21–17. It was their record third straight league win and their fifth in seven years.

Starr continued as the Packers top quarterback until 1972. He had undergone two major operations on both shoulders in 1971 and missed the first ten games of the season. Starr made the decision to retire in July 1972, remaining for the rest of the year as the Packers quarterback coach. He resigned in 1973 to pursue his business interests and to serve as a sports analyst for the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). In 1975 Starr accepted the position of head coach and general manager of the Packers with only one year of coaching experience; he stayed on as coach until 1984. Starr was elected to the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1976, and the following year he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Starr and his wife retired to Birmingham, Alabama, in 1990, where Starr joined a real estate development company, Starr Sanders Properties, as chairman of the board, and an advertising firm, Barry, Huey, Bulek, and Cook, as a director.

Starr had the most wins of any quarterback in football, and holds the NFL record for the most passes without an interception, 294. His ability to listen, learn, and remain cool under pressure made him an outstanding player.

The Paul W. Bryant Museum Research Library contains books, player scrapbooks, photographs, and videos of football games featuring Starr. Starr wrote A Perspective on Victory (1972), with John Wiebusch. For highlights of Starr's career, see Tex Maule, Bart Starr: Professional Quarterback (1973). For more information, see Andrew Kilpatrick, "Bart Starr Comes Home to Bama," Birmingham Post-Herald (6 Mar. 1990).

Betty B. Vinsonm