Green Bay Packers: A Farewell to a Starr and an Era

With the recent passing of quarterback Bart Starr, it almost feels as if it is the end of an era for the Green Bay Packers.

It almost feels like a chapter of a book is being finished and closed forever in Green Bay. It’s not surprising, as Father Time is undefeated, even to the Lombardi Packers.

The franchise lost Henry Jordan in 1977, Ray Nitschke in 1998. We said goodbye Max McGee in 2007 and cracked one last joke with Fuzzy in 2014. Even in the past eight months alone, we lost two of the rocks of the franchise in Forrest Gregg and Jim Taylor. And of course, the great coach Lombardi left us back in 1970. But it never felt final, we never got the feeling that the Lombardi Packers were truly gone. Until Sunday. Until Bart Starr.

To describe the impact that Bart Starr had on the Green Bay Packers is a task that is beyond any writer not named Cliff Christl. He is forever the quarterback of the greatest dynasty in sports, the coach that tried to bring those days back with a high scoring offense and disappearing defense. A gentleman in an era that glorified brutal rivalries. As a motivator, he was the exact opposite of his legendary head coach, a quiet man who wanted the best from his guys, but with the gentle grace of your grandfather.

On the field, Starr was as tough and as clutch as it got. He’ll always be remembered for his sneak in the Ice Bowl, the final game at Lambeau for Lombardi, but he was also an elite passer, as Mike Greenberg said Monday morning, he was Tom Brady before Tom Brady.

Still the record holder for highest postseason passer rating, he’s the only quarterback to win three consecutive championships and five in a decade. He was always able to step up in the biggest moments, always making a pinpoint pass or calling the perfect play on 3rd and short. For his era, Starr had the intellect of a Manning, and the poise and winning attitude of Brady.

Bart was known to quote with his coach that they never lost a game, they just ran out of time. And you always felt that they were right, that Green Bay never truly lost, that they’d find a way to win if they just had another minute. That was thanks to Starr’s calmness and leadership.

Since his retirement in 1972, there hasn’t been a quarterback who kept his cool better and led his team better than the man who wore the number fifteen in green and gold. As a 17th round pick, he knew better than anyone that football could be fleeting, and to make the most of your opportunities

He was the greatest leader on and off the field in NFL history, and there’s no one else even close. But it’s as a man where he’ll be remembered. Eventually, all his remaining records will fall, his standing in NFL history will diminish, but his character never will.

In the past couple days, story after story from people inside the game and out have emerged showing the gentle soul that was Bart Starr. A man who would always find time to say hello, to grab a cup of coffee or shoot the breeze when walking in downtown Green Bay. And a tireless advocate for the youth, Starr and his wife of more than sixty years, Cherry, helped found the Rawhide Boys Ranch with John and Jan Gillespie, an organization still helping at-risk young men today, 54 years later.

As year after year goes by, we’ve lost many of the greatest Green Bay Packers of the 1960s. We still have Paul Hornung, Jerry Kramer, Dave Robinson, Willie Davis, Herb Adderley, Willie Wood and some of the others around to keep the stories alive and to light up a room. But with the loss of their team leader, it feels like the team finally ran out time, that there are no more minutes to try to come back and win.

For many in an older generation, Bart Starr was the Green Bay Packers, the greatest of them all, on and off the field. His number fifteen that hangs in the Lambeau Field atrium and is on the facade of the bowl will always be there, a memory of what success and leadership can and should be.

There will never be another Bart Starr, and he’s already greatly missed. We can only hope that he’s calling plays with Coach Lombardi in heaven, being protected by Fuzzy and Forrest, throwing passes to Max, and handing the ball to Jim Taylor. Goodbye, Bryan Bartlett Starr, and thank you for your courage, grace, and humility on and off the gridiron.