What was Bart Starr's Net Worth?
Bart Starr was an American retired professional football player who had a net worth of $4 million at the time of his death in 2019. Bart Starr played for the Green Bay Packers and is known as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.
Early Life
Bryan Bartlett Starr was born on January 9, 1934, in Montgomery, Alabama. He attended Sidney Lanier High School and tried out for the football team his sophomore year but quit just two weeks later. His father gave him the choice of playing football or working in the family garden, so Bart returned to football. Bart Starr became the starting quarterback his junior year due to injury of their original starter, and he helped lead the team to an undefeated season. Starr was named All-State and All-American and received numerous scholarship offers from universities across the nation.
Starr, wanting to be close to his high school sweetheart, Cherry Louise Morton, committed to the University of Alabama. He didn't start as a freshman but played enough to earn a varsity letter. Bart entered his sophomore year as Alabama's starting quarterback, safety, and punter. His junior year was mostly lost due to a back injury he suffered during a hazing incident for initiation into the A Club, and he rarely played his senior season. But the basketball coach at Alabama, Johnny Dee, recommended Starr as a prospect to friend and personnel director of the Green Bay Packers, Jack Vainisi. And the Packers became convinced that Bart Starr had the ability to succeed in the NFL.
NFL Career
Bart Starr was selected in the 17th round of the 1956 NFL Draft with the 200th overall pick by the Green Bay Packers. The team signed him for $6,500 with $1,000 of that coming up front. He spent his entire playing career with the Packers from 1956 to 1971. Starr led his team to win the first two Super Bowls ever and was also Super Bowl MVP of Super Bowls I and II. He also won the NFL Championship in 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, and 1967 and was a three-time Pro Bowl selection. Starr was named the NFL Most Valuable Player in 1966 and led the league in passer rating five times. He was named to the NFL 1960s All-Decade Team.
Starr had his No. 15 retired by the Green Bay Packers. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Packers Hall of Fame. He had a postseason record of 9-1, and his postseason passing rating of 104.8 is the highest of any quarterback in NFL history.
Getty
Coaching Career
After his retirement as a player, Bart Starr served as the Packers' quarterbacks coach under head coach Dan Devine in 1972. Starr took over as head coach in 1974 and led the Packers for nine years to an underwhelming overall regular season record of 52-76-2 and a playoff record of 1-1. In January of 1984, Starr was named the head coach of proposed NFL expansion team the Arizona Firebirds. But the NFL never granted the team to the would-be ownership group.
Personal Life
Bart Starr and his wife, Cherry, were married for more than 60 years, and the couple had two sons together and three granddaughters.
Starr and his wife helped co-found the Rawhide Boys Ranch in New London, Wisconsin, in 1965 to help at-risk and troubled kids in the state. In 1971, they started the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation to raise funds for cancer research and care in honor of the late coach. They also launched the Starr Children's Fund within the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation to support pediatric cancer research and care.
After suffering a serious stroke in 2014, Bart Starr's health continued to decline until he passed away on May 26, 2019, at the age of 85 in Birmingham, Alabama.
