SBN Wisconsin Hall of Fame Nomination #9 - Bart Starr

Published Aug. 5, 2010 at 12:01 p.m.
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...More photos »...Rob Carr - AP...

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...8 months ago:...NFL Hall-of-Famer Bart Starr, left, shakes hands with Texas football quarterback Colt McCoy after McCoy received the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, Friday, Dec. 11, 2009, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)...

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QB Bart Starr always seemed to be held in the highest regard by fans of the Green Bay Packers. I grew up believing he was the greatest player in the team's history. His stats don't look remarkable compared to the quarterbacks of today (for instance his career completion percentage is 57.4%, and he never attempted more then 295 passes in a season or threw for more than 2438 yards) but you have to adjust it for the era and playing for a run-first offensive team. The other great quarterback of the 1960s was QB Johnny Unitas and his career completion percentage is only 54.6%.

Starr was an unlikely legend. He was drafted in the 17th round in 1956 and didn't become the full-time starter until his fifth season. Even after Vince Lombardi became the head coach in 1959, he didn't immediately believe in Starr. Over time he learned that Starr was tireless and a great decision-maker on the field.

And he was the best player in the biggest games with a career playoff record of 9-1, and his career quarterback rating for the postseason is 104.5. He was the quarterback for 5 NFL championship (including MVP of Super Bowl I and II), and only QB Otto Graham has won more (7).

But what really surprised me was that he's rarely mentioned as one of the all-time greats outside of Packer fans.

It's always appeared that he's received "minimal personal recognition", possibly because he played alongside so many great teammates. After a brief Google search, I came across an article on the best quarterbacks of all time written in 2010 by a New York newspaper and Starr doesn't even get a mention. 

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