Packers legend Bart Starr always had a special place in his heart for Stevens Point

APPLETON – Bart Starr built his legacy as a beloved sports hero in Green Bay, but another Wisconsin community held a special place in the heart of the legendary Packers quarterback.

Starr, who died in May and will be honored Sunday in a halftime ceremony at Lambeau Field during the Packers’ home opener against the Minnesota Vikings, had a strong connection with Stevens Point.

Starr was introduced to the city when the Packers held training camp there early in his career, and his relationship with Stevens Point grew stronger through a 34-year run on the board of directors at Sentry Insurance.

“Bart instantly fell in love with Wisconsin for many reasons,” his wife, Cherry, said in an email. “His experience in Stevens Point was one he would hold special in his heart for over 60 years. It’s a lovely community and Bart especially enjoyed the beautiful scenery and landscapes.”

Starr was drafted in the 17th round by the Packers in 1956. The Packers held training camp in Stevens Point from 1954 to 1957 and stayed in student housing at Central State College, which is now UW-Stevens Point.

While the team hadn’t yet risen to prominence, an estimated 5,000 fans showed up to watch an intrasquad game at Goerke Field, according to an article in the Stevens Point Journal.

“Bart’s first training camp with the Green Bay Packers was held in Stevens Point,” said Cherry Starr, who will be at Lambeau Field on Sunday along with Bart Jr. “It always humored him to recall this to others because he knew they would be just as surprised as he was to learn, at that time, the Packers training camp was not in Green Bay but an hour and a half away.”

Starr became a member of the Sentry board of directors in 1973, less than two years after the two-time Super Bowl MVP retired as a player and two years before he would become head coach of the Packers. He served on the board for 34 years until retiring in February 2007.

Starr’s relationship with Stevens Point and Sentry didn’t end when he retired from the board of directors. Current Sentry CEO Pete McPartland met Starr in 2013 and developed a relationship with Bart and his family. McPartland and other company leaders would visit the couple at their home in Birmingham, Alabama, even after Bart’s health started to decline.

“Even during the latter phase of his life, when he was trying to recover from serious illnesses, he was the same person that everyone described him as being when he was in his heyday as a football player and in good health as a retired football player and coach,” McPartland said. “Bart was more interested in others than himself, kind of a gentle personality. A very unassuming guy and incredibly approachable and just always had a happy way about him, even in the toughest of times.”

McPartland said Starr was an “extraordinarily effective” board member.

“He was a real leader who could bring divergent points of view together as well as anyone we’ve had on our board,” McPartland said. “He was extremely giving of his time. He was a natural leader and respected as a board member, even though his background was more in sports than in a corporate world.”

McPartland attended Starr’s private funeral service in Alabama along with Jim Pearson and Peter Pestillo, who served on the board of directors during Starr’s tenure.

“There were probably a dozen or so people who spoke and all of the commentary was about Bart as a person, not Bart as a football player,” McPartland said. “And all the stories people told, many of which the Starr family had not ever heard before, were all of the same nature, which had to do with his approachability, the time he would give to his fans.

"He would give whatever time to fans for an autograph or to chat with him, whatever time they wanted of Bart, even to the point of missing appointments or events he was on the way to attending. He would just drop everything. That’s what he was remembered for at his service and that’s what he’s remembered for at Sentry and in Stevens Point, was Bart the person not Bart the football player.”

Contact Mike Sherry at (920) 996-7244 or msherry@postcrescent.com. Follow him on Twitter @MikeSherry14.