NFL Legend Bart Starr Was Once Hospitalized Due To Brutal Alabama Hazing

Alex Buscemi9 years ago

Bart Starr is one of the most storied quarterbacks in NFL history, having led the Green Bay Packers to five league championships and two Super Bowls from 1956 to 1971, despite nursing a persistent back injury.

The NFL Hall of Famer, now 82 years old, always maintained that his back pains were the result of straining himself during a punting exercise. But his wife, Cherry, recently revealed that the injuries were the result of the brutal hazing he underwent as part of his initiation into the A-Club, Alabama’s varsity athletics association.

Specifically, the injury was the result of getting paddled in the fucking spine until his back looked like “raw meat.”

From Al.com:

“He was hospitalized at one point in traction,” Cherry said. “That was in the days when they were initiated into the A-Club, and they had severe beatings and paddling. From all the members of the A-Club, they lined up with a big paddle with holes drilled in it, and it actually injured his back.”

“But his back was never right after that,” Cherry Starr said. “It was horrible. It was not a football injury. It was an injury sustained from hazing. His whole back all the way up to his rib cage looked like a piece of raw meat. The bruising went all the way up his back. It was red and black and awful looking. It was so brutal.”

Alabama Tight End Nick Germanos, a teammate of Starr, can attest to the savagery. He joined the Marine Corps after college, and said the hazing from the A-Club in those days was worse than anything he experienced in the military.

“It was hell,” Germanos said. “Lord have mercy it was a rough initiation.”

It was probably worse for Starr than most. He got married to Cherry his junior year (eloping was highly discouraged for college athletes, and resulted in a scholarship reduction). Further, Cherry was an Auburn girl. The back injuries Bart sustained cost him much of junior and senior seasons.

Jesus. That means he was hazed, initiated, then hazed again when they caught him in bed (and on the altar) with the enemy. Vintage hazing stories are insane..

[via Al.com]

Image via YouTube