Bart Starr's Wife Reveals Back Injury Came from University Hazing Ritual

Birmingham, Alabama (AL.Com) Bart Starr and his wife, Cherry, have been telling people for 60 years that Starr's back problems came from a punting exercise during Starr's time at the University of Alabama, according to AL.com.

Cherry recently admitted that story was a six-decade long cover up.

Starr's injuries came from a brutal form of hazing during his college playing days.

Cherry revealed that Bart Starr was beaten with a wooden paddle as part of a varsity letterman's initiation.

His injuries were so gruesome that Starr was hospitalized, his college career altered, his time with the Packers affected.

One of Starr's Alabama teammates who later served in the marines recently described the hazing ritual as worse than anything he saw in the military. Bart Starr kept the incident to himself for 60 years because Starr felt it would make him look bad. Starr missed most of his junior year with the injury after helping Alabama win its conference championship as a sophomore.

Starr was so badly hurt that he failed an Air Force physical after his rookie season with the packers and was deemed unfit for military service. That led to a long and incredible career as a Packer, a career that shines even brighter in light of the pain Starr endured.