Cherry Starr, the widow of legendary former Packers quarterback Bart Starr, has died at 89 years old.
“Yes, we did lose mom, who passed away so peacefully. It was a perfect ending. Our sadness will not match our gratitude,” the couple’s son, Bart Starr Jr., confirmed to WBAY in Green Bay.
Former Green Bay Packers quarterback and coach Bart Starr and his wife, Cherry. ABC PhotoBart Starr died in 2019 at the age of 85.
As quarterback of the Vince Lombardi era Packers, he won two Super Bowls and three additional NFL championships, going 9-1 in postseason starts, in a professional career that spanned from 1956-71.
Packers fans’ recent memories of the couple center around Cherry working around the clock to help Bart recover enough from multiple strokes and a heart attack to return to Lambeau Field — in the freezing rain — on Thanksgiving in 2015 for Brett Favre’s jersey retirement.
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“I talked to Bart Jr. right before,” Favre said at the time.
“I saw him here, but I didn’t get to see him up close. It was right before (we went onto the field), and I said, ‘Is your dad ready?’ He said, ‘Oh, he’s ready.’ So you think, ‘Oh, OK.’ But he was gritting his teeth. It was awesome.
“I got more of a thrill out of that than what I was here for, and I mean no disrespect to anybody. To see [someone] that excited at 81 years old was pretty awesome.”
Cherry and Bart were high school sweethearts, having met at Sidney Lanier High School in Montgomery, Ala., after Cherry moved south from Ohio.
Cherry Starr (l) and Brett Favre in 2019. Star Tribune via Getty ImagesAs covered at Al.com in 2016, the couple eloped, marrying in 1954 when they were both 20 years old, keeping their marriage a secret from even their family until Cherry’s mother received a letter addressed to “Mrs. Bart Starr” and interrogated her about it.
Bart played quarterback at the University of Alabama, rebuffing a scholarship offer from future Crimson Tide legend Paul “Bear” Bryant, who was coaching at Kentucky at the time, because it would have meant being away from Cherry, who during this period was a student at Auburn.
“He didn’t want to lose me,” Cherry told Al.com.
Bart’s starting salary with the Packers was just $6,500 and he moonlighted as a tire salesman in the offseason.
Bart Starr (l), Cherry Starr (c) and Aaron Rodgers (r) in 2014. Corbis/Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesIn addition to Bart’s football legacy, Bart and Cherry will be remembered for their philanthropy, as they were among the co-founders of Rawhide Boys Ranch, an alternative education center based in Wisconsin that helps troubled teens turn their lives around.
Bart and Cherry were preceded in death by their son, Bret, who died at 24 years old in 1988, and are survived by Bart Jr. and his wife Elaena, three grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
