Listen to “Bart Starr poem 5-28-19” on Spreaker.
FAREWELL TO BART
To boys growing up ‘round here in the 60s
Nobody was bigger than number 15.
Being Packer quarterback Bart Starr
Was mine and all my classmate’s dream.
He was Wisconsin’s own superhero
The best player under the sun.
To us he was Superman, Batman, Green Lantern and The Flash
All rolled into one.
Five-times an NFL champion
Two-times Super Bowl MVP.
NFL MVP in 1966
The era’s most exceptional QB.
But of all his on-field accomplishments
The one for which he is most remembered
Is a play in the 67 Championship Game against Dallas
On that frigid last day of December.
With the wind chill around 50 below
And scant time left on the clock
Bart decided to keep the ball
Giving the Cowboys quite a shock.
Dallas expected Bart to pass the ball
Even his teammates thought he’d hand it off.
But Bart tucked the ball and lunged across the goal
On that field of ice and frost.
But his victory in the Ice Bowl
May pale compared to his accomplishments outside the game.
Why even the NFL award for Outstanding Character
Shares Bart Starr’s name.
Bart helped start the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation
And Starr’s Children’s Fund
As well as co-founding a place for at-risk boys
Rawhide in New London.
All while married to his high school sweet-heart Cherry.
His wife of over 60 years.
Bart never shied from being a role model.
As well as an inspiration to his peers.
Now Bart has gone to join his team mates
Jim Taylor, Fuzzy Thurston, Bob Skoronski
Elijah Pitts, Max McGee and Henry Jordon
Bob Jeter, Gale Gillingham and Ray Nitschke.
And when Bart arrived at Heaven’s gate on Sunday
I’m sure he heard St. Peter whisper “welcome” in his ear
Before he heard a more familiar voice a-yelling
“What the hell is going on out here?”
[PHOTO: WBAY-TV2][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
