OBITUARY: Green Bay Packers icon QB dies at the age of 64

OBITUARY: Green Bay Packers icon QB dies at the age of 64

Bart Starr was an ordinary quarterback until teaming with Vince Lombardi on the powerhouse Green Bay Packers teams that ruled the 1960s and ushered in the NFL as America’s most popular sport.

The quarterback’s graceful throws helped turn a run-heavy league into a passing spectacle, yet it’s a run for which he’s most famous: the sneak that won the famed “Ice Bowl” in 1967.

Starr died Sunday at age 85 in Birmingham, Alabama, the Packers said. He had been in failing health since suffering two strokes and a heart attack in 2014.

Starr is the third of Lombardi’s dozen Hall of Famers to die in the past eight months. Fullback Jim Taylor died in October and offensive tackle Forrest Gregg died last month.

SPORTS Bart Starr, QB Who Led Packers To Greatness, Dies At 85 chicago MAY 27, 2019 / 11:19 AM CDT / CBS CHICAGO (AP) — Bart Starr was an ordinary quarterback until teaming with Vince Lombardi on the powerhouse Green Bay Packers teams that ruled the 1960s and ushered in the NFL as America’s most popular sport. The quarterback’s graceful throws helped turn a run-heavy league into a passing spectacle, yet it’s a run for which he’s most famous: the sneak that won the famed “Ice Bowl” in 1967. Starr died Sunday at age 85 in Birmingham, Alabama, the Packers said. He had been in failing health since suffering two strokes and a heart attack in 2014. Starr is the third of Lombardi’s dozen Hall of Famers to die in the past eight months. Fullback Jim Taylor died in October and offensive tackle Forrest Gregg died last month. Chicago Bears v Green Bay Packers GREEN BAY, WI – NOVEMBER 26: Bart Starr, former Green Bay Packers quarterback and his spouse Cherry Louise Morton ride out to the field during the jersey retirement ceremony for Brett Favre at Lambeau Field on November 26, 2015 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Photo by Mike McGinnis/Getty Images) “A champion on and off the field, Bart epitomized class and was beloved by generations of Packers fans,” Packers President Mark Murphy said in a statement. “A clutch player who led his team to five NFL titles, Bart could still fill Lambeau Field with electricity decades later during his many visits.” The Packers selected Starr out of the University of Alabama with the 200th pick in the 1956 draft. He led Green Bay to six division titles, five NFL championships and wins in the first two Super Bowls. “Bart Starr was one of the most genuine, sincere people I knew,” NFL Commissioner Roger Godell said in a statement. “He personified the values of our league as a football player, a family man, and a tireless philanthropist who cared deeply about helping at-risk kids. Above all, he was a wonderful human being who will be remembered for his kindness and compassion.”

Until Brett Favre came along, Starr was regarded as the greatest Packer of all time. The team retired his No. 15 jersey in 1973, making him only the third player to do so, and he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, four years later.

Starr’s collegiate career was unremarkable, and it wasn’t until Lombardi arrived in Green Bay in 1959 that Starr, who lived by the maxim “desire and dedication are everything,” began to develop.

Lombardi admired Starr’s mechanics, arm strength, and, most importantly, his decision-making talents. Starr developed into one of the league’s greatest quarterbacks under Lombardi’s tutelage.

“If you work harder than somebody else, chances are you’ll beat him though he has more talent than you,” Starr was quoted as saying. Lombardi, he said, showed him “that by working hard and using my mind, I could overcome my weaknesses to the point where I could be one of the best.”

His failures as the team’s head coach put the gentlemanly quarterback’s standing as a Packers icon to the test. From 1975 to 1983, he won only 41% of his games, going 53-77-3, including 1-1 in the playoffs, as part of a three-decade slump that followed the glory years.

Starr went on to become a successful businessman in Birmingham, not far from his birthplace in Montgomery, where he was born on January 9, 1934.

“Bart was a true gentleman, a great player, and a great pioneer for the NFL,” Hall of Famer John Elway said in a tweet. “He set a tremendous example for all QBs to emulate.”

When Starr retired after the 1971 season, his career completion rate of 57.4 percent led the run-heavy NFL, and his quarterback rating of 80.5 was second only to Otto Graham.

His most famous play, however, was a run.

Starr knifed into the goal zone behind guard Jerry Kramer and center Ken Bowman with 16 seconds left in the NFL championship game on December 31, 1967, to lift the Packers past the Dallas Cowboys 21-17 in what became known as the “Ice Bowl.”

The Packers had invested $80,000 on a heating coil system that was supposed to keep the field soft and warm, and forecasts indicated there was no need to concern because the approaching cold front would not arrive until after the game.

“It was 20 degrees the day before,” said the late Tom Landry. “It was fantastic. That night, Vince and I were talking about how great the weather were and what a great game it would be.”

They were just partly right. When the grounds staff rolled up the cover, a layer of mist had formed underneath, and the field quickly froze like an ice rink due to the 40 mph wind. Later, Packers running back Chuck Mercein compared the ground to “jagged concrete.”

It was the coldest NFL game ever recorded, with a temperature of minus-14 and a wind chill of minus-49. The wind chill had dropped another 20 degrees by the time the Packers took possession of the ball at their 32-yard line, behind 17-14 with five minutes remaining.

Starr approached the field with one last chance for an aging dynasty to capture a fifth NFL title in seven seasons, as linebacker Ray Nitschke yelled, “Don’t let me down!”

Starr, who completed all five of his throws and directed one of the most spectacular drives in NFL history, didn’t.

“When we’re called upon to do it, we all have a unique capacity to focus and concentrate,” Starr stated on the game’s 30th anniversary. “I did just that that day. And I believe the same could be said about the Cowboys. Let’s face it, they were obviously not used to that, and yet they were the team that had surged and come back in the second half and were in a position to win it.”

With 1:11 left, tackle Bob Skoronski cleared a hole for Mercein, who ran through the middle for 8 yards to the Dallas 3.

Halfback Donny Anderson stumbled on two handoffs, prompting Starr to take a timeout, go to the sideline, and recommend a sneak due to the poor traction.

“Then run it, and let’s get the hell out of here,” Lombardi commanded.

The play was immaculate, a faultless end to the coldest of games frozen in time.

“I’ve never been in a huddle where there was greater composure and a higher level of intensity and concentration,” Mercein told The Associated Press once.

Mercein is the man in the famous shot of the play, diving into the end zone behind Starr, hands up, as if indicating “Touchdown!”

“But what I’m actually doing is I’m showing the officials that I’m not assisting or aiding Bart into the end zone,” Mercein said in an interview.

That would have been a penalty, and it would have ended the most famous quarterback sneak in history.

Mercein and the rest of his teammates expected him to receive the handoff on the play. Except for Starr and Lombardi, no one knew it was going to be a quarterback sneak. So Mercein dug in, believing he had the ball, and got a tremendous takeoff on the icy field.

“In fact, it was too good because after a few steps, I realized I wasn’t going to get the ball.” “But I couldn’t pull up because it was so icy,” Mercein explained. “So that’s why I dive over the play and I have my arms upraised, which appears to everyone in that famous picture that I’m signaling touchdown.”

In Lombardi’s final game as head coach of the Packers, the Packers upset the AFL champion Raiders 33-14 in sunny Miami two weeks later.

Starr succeeded Dan Devine as Packers head coach in 1975 and was succeeded by former colleague Forrest Gregg in 1984 after failing to lead the franchise to the same level of success as a player.

Starr and his wife, Cherry, helped co-found Rawhide Boys Ranch in New London, Wisconsin, in 1965, an institution aimed to aid at-risk and troubled boys across the state.