NEW LONDON, WI. (Spectrum News)-- The Green Bay Packers and Rawhide Boys Ranch are celebrating the life and legacy of legendary quarterback Bart Starr.
He's being remembered for his athleticism and leadership on the field and also for his passion to help troubled boys succeed.
Bart Starr's wife Cherry Starr recalls how the Starr's got involved with the non-profit.
"Bart and I have always tried to do things to benefit children and we've spent our lifetime doing that," said Cherry Starr.
In 1965, John and Jan Gillespie were thinking about starting a group home for troubled boys and heard the Starr's shared a similar idea.
"When he approached us and gave us his story, he had such great vision and passion for what he wanted to do and we just decided him right there at the moment that we were going to join him and going to help him," explained Cherry Starr.
They didn't exactly know how to fund it, but then Bart Starr won a Corvette for his MVP performance in the Super Bowl.
They wanted to raffle the Corvette for Rawhide but there was a lottery law preventing them from doing so. They then called up the Governor of Wisconsin.
"We had gotten to know him on a personal level and he thought this was such a wonderful idea, and without his help this wouldn't have happened. And, he said if you can do it between Friday and Monday we'll overlook the lottery law. And, so we had tickets printed up and we went to grocery stores and stood out on street corners. And, in three days we sold forty thousand tickets for a dollar a piece," explained Cherry Starr.
That was the beginning of Rawhide's vehicle donation program which continues to successfully fund Rawhide today.
Thousands of boys turned around their life at Rawhide, including Dan Zimperich. He worked in the vehicle improvement office.
"The second day I was here, I was fourteen years old, I didn't know who the heck Bart was, I was busy getting in trouble. I wasnt' watching football and stuff like that. They took us to Century Insurance in Stephens Point and we shot a commercial. You still see it late at night it's Bart with about fifteen twenty boys all in jerseys," explained Zimpirich.
Zimperich says he was court ordered to attend Rawhide for one year but he liked it so much that he stayed three years until graduating.
"The biggest thing Rawhide taught me was my work ethic. I mean they teach you day one work hard, play hard. That's basically the main thing I took away from here," said Zimpirich.
The 1991 Rawhide graduate is now married and a successful business owner in Madison.
"They come back with their families. They're happily married. They've had good careers, and it's such a joy and a real blessing," said Cherry Starr.
Bart Starr's son Bart Jr. says his dad saw Rawhide as the greatest work in his lifetime, and if he were here today Bart Starr would still be the organization's champion.
"I think he would say continue to let people know what really mattered in my life, and yes go by the Packers Hall of Fame, yes go take a tour of Lambeau Field and enjoy the ball game at night, but don't forget to do the thing that is gonna matter in lives for decades and decades and decades, I know that's right where he would go," explained Bart Starr Jr.