NFL: Bart Starr has passed away
- Thread starter Cyclones_R_GR8
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RIP Bart. Great player and ambassador for the Packers.
He was a great ambassador for the whole league when it started growing in popularity.
Too young to have seen Starr play, he had retired before I started following NFL/sports. So all my knowledge is second-hand.
I sense he had similarities w/ Brady as much as you could compare different eras. Effective/productive QB in an effective, winning system. For those who were dialed-in back in the '60s feel free to correct me if I'm way off.
I sense he had similarities w/ Brady as much as you could compare different eras. Effective/productive QB in an effective, winning system. For those who were dialed-in back in the '60s feel free to correct me if I'm way off.
The Packers back then were obviously way more run heavy than any of Brady's teams, but Bart was a great team leader.
In my ISU days, I was sitting in the cafeteria in the Union one day when I felt a BIG hand on my shoulder. I turned around and the hand extended for a handshake from one Bart Starr. He was campaigning for fellow ex-QB Jack Kemp. He had a strong handshake and was very dignified in the way that he campaigned.
15-year-old Boxster was a Bart Starr and Packer fan back in 1967 and was watching the Ice Bowl on TV and will always remember Starr scoring behind Jerry Kramer's "The Block". Final winning drive was the best ever.
His was the first autobiography I read. And, that was a very LONG time ago (ie 60's). But, it impacted me greatly as a child. All good things must come to an end. I just want all of them to end with my last breath.
15-year-old Boxster was a Bart Starr and Packer fan back in 1967 and was watching the Ice Bowl on TV and will always remember Starr scoring behind Jerry Kramer's "The Block". Final winning drive was the best ever.
Watched the game on tv with my dad who wasn’t a big sports fan. When Starr scored, I jumped up off the chair and almost broke a lamp. My noisy celebration woke up my napping dad, who yelled at me “Knock it off...I can’t believe you’re tearing up the house over a damn game!”
Let me guess: It wasn't the last time you 'tore up the house over a damn game'"
not even close
15-year-old Boxster was a Bart Starr and Packer fan back in 1967 and was watching the Ice Bowl on TV and will always remember Starr scoring behind Jerry Kramer's "The Block". Final winning drive was the best ever.
And the real hero of that winning drive was an obscure fullback, obtained earlier in the season from the New York Giants. Fellow by the name of Chuck Mercein.
Mercein thought he was getting the handoff on this play - even though Starr got the OK from Lombardi to sneak it, he didn't tell anyone in the huddle. (Starr felt the back was having trouble getting good enough footing to plow into the end zone.)
And the famous picture of Mercein from the end zone camera, falling in atop Starr with his hands raised in the air, has been misinterpreted for the most part. Although many thought Mercein was signaling a TD, he actually didn't want to get penalized for pushing Starr into the end zone - so he kept his hands up in the air.
I met Bart as a star-struck teenager at an FCA banquet at the Starlite Village in Fort Dodge. I grew up a Packer fan, born and raised in Wisconsin. He was exactly as I pictured him - a real gentleman and very generous. He signed an autograph for me (which I still have), asked if I played football (which I did), and encouraged me to learn from the game. What a great guy.
IIRC Chuck Mercein had some big runs in the final drive to. I am only a casual NFL fan these days but can stump most Packer fans by asking them about Mercein.
He also caught a couple passes on that drive, he had been put in to replace Donny Anderson. Anderson had had a fairly decent day, but was banged up from hitting the hard ground so many times. (Boyd Dowler was carried off with a concussion earlier in the drive, suffered from hitting his head against the ground.)