Bart Starr was a 17th round draft choice of the Green Bay Packers in 1956. Three years later, his playing time was still limited and his football future appeared in doubt. That’s when Vince Lombardi took over as the Packers coach, an event that may have saved Bart's NFL career.

Lombardi, in tireless study of films, found that he liked Bart's mechanics, his arm, his ball-handling techniques and, most of all, his decision-making abilities. Under Vince's careful nurturing, Starr gained the confidence to become one of the NFL's great field leaders.

By 1960, Starr led Green Bay to the Western Division championship, the first in a long string of successes for Starr and the Packers. From 1960 through 1967, Bart's "won-lost record" was a sizzling 62-24-4 and the Packers won six divisional, five NFL, and the first two Super Bowl championships.

Although Starr seemed to receive minimal personal recognition for the team’s successes, knowledgeable football men knew who was making the Packers click. He was the perfect quarterback for his team. Because it was a balanced attack that he led, Starr's passes were limited – remarkably, he never threw as many as 300 passes in any one season. This may have helped to create the illusion that he was only an average passer.

The statistics, of course, do not bear this out. Starr held several NFL passing records, including the lifetime record of completing 57.4 percent of his passes over a 16-year period. He led the league in passing three times. He was the NFL's Most Valuable Player in 1966.

He won MVP honors in both Super Bowls I and II. Bart was at his best in his many postseason appearances. After their first title loss to Philadelphia in 1960, the Packers never lost another playoff game under Starr.