A little over 10 years ago, Chattanoogan Kurt Schmissrauter received a call from current Baylor School chief advancement officer Matt Lewis wondering if he wanted to have lunch with someone.
That someone happened to be Bart Starr, the former Green Bay Packers quarterback and NFL Hall of Famer who died Sunday at the age of 85.
As part of an annual fund-raising auction, Baylor had offered a meal with Mr.
Starr as one of the auction items. It had been set up with the help of Mr. Starr’s former Green Bay teammate, Bill Curry, who was then teaching some leadership training to Baylor students briefly as a staff member.
As it turned out, the alumnus who had the highest bid and won the lunch was unable to attend, so Mr. Lewis contacted Mr. Schmissrauter to see if he wanted to go.
Mr. Schmissrauter, who had several children at Baylor at the time, had also played football at Alabama like Mr. Starr, but Mr. Starr had actually been his favorite football player as a child growing up in Hixson in the Valleybrook community.
As a result, it did not take him long to say yes.
“That was the thrill of my life,” recalled Mr. Schmissrauter on Monday.
He said they went to the Food Works restaurant in the old Signal Knitting Mill off Manufacturers Road, with Mr. Curry, Mr. Lewis and possibly one or two others in attendance. Mr. Starr gladly answered questions about some of his old Packer teammates and graciously accepted the fellow diners’ positive comments about his career, he recalled.
In fact, Mr. Starr gave them all so much time that they ended up staying at the restaurant well beyond a typical lunch hour, Mr. Schmissrauter recalled.
“He was just so nice,” he remembered. “Bart Starr was the consummate gentleman.”
Mr. Schmissrauter cannot remember the exact date, but it must have been around 2007 or 2008. Mr. Curry – the former head coach at Georgia Tech, Alabama and Kentucky – was at Baylor around that time before leaving in 2008 to get back into coaching and start the Georgia State program from scratch.
And the Food Works website said it opened in 2006.
Like many football fans, Mr. Schmissrauter was sad to hear of the former star player’s death, saying he was the ideal role model with never a personal scandal surrounding him, in contrast with so many other top athletes.
He said he also used to see Mr. Starr eating at the Galleria mall in Birmingham and would introduce himself again to him when he was down there, too.
For many people around Mr. Schmissrauter’s age who were in elementary school or junior high around the 1960s, Mr. Starr was a favorite football player, leading Green Bay to five NFL championships and two Super Bowl victories.
Before he became such a household name with the Packers, he played against UT-Chattanooga in both 1952 and 1953 when he was at Alabama. In 1952 he was a freshman on the team at a time when freshmen were eligible to play on the varsity, while in 1953 he was the main quarterback as a sophomore.
That second year he led the Crimson Tide to a close 21-14 win over Chattanooga at a time when the Alabama program was struggling and the Mocs were able to play more closely with some of the bigger teams.
The week before that 1952 game, Chattanooga had prevented another future NFL Hall of Fame quarterback named Johnny Unitas from completing a pass in defeating Mr. Unitas’ Louisville team in a 47-14 Moc victory at Chamberlain Field.
Mr. Starr’s sophomore year ended up being his most productive year with the Crimson Tide. He was injured his junior year and did not play as much his senior year, as new coach J.B. Whitworth wanted to play younger players.
His coach his first three years at Alabama was Red Drew, who had formerly been the head coach of Chattanooga.
Despite not being highly touted, he was drafted by Green Bay and genuinely blossomed after legendary coach Vince Lombardi arrived in 1959.
Although his later head coaching career with the Packers did not go quite as well, this player who became well known for wearing No. 15 was still No. 1 in the hearts of Packer fans, always getting the largest ovation at Packer reunions.
Many were saddened to hear of his death Sunday after suffering from health problems that had begun with a stroke several years ago. Among them was Mr. Schmissrauter.
“I hate it he died,” he said.
Jcshearer2@comcast.net