Bart Starr's football career is forever enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but before the legendary quarterback was winning Super Bowls with Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers, he was under center at Alabama.
Starr's time in Tuscaloosa was hindered by a back injury, originally said to be caused by punting a football, but his wife, Cherry, revealed Starr was the victim of a brutal hazing tradition while joining Alabama's A-Club.
"He was hospitalized at one point in traction," Cherry told Joseph Goodman of AL.com. "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."
The back injuries halted his collegiate career, and affected him throughout his 16 years with the Packers.
"But his back was never right after that," Cherry 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."
The injuries may have hampered the end of his college career, but Starr's legacy remains untouched, 62 years later.
