Bart Starr was victim of secret 'brutal' hazing incident at Bama

Bart Starr and wife Cherry Louise Morton attend a Brett Favre ceremony at halftime of an NFL football game between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears Thursday, Nov. 26, 2015, in Green Bay, Wis. Favre's retired No. 4 and name were unveiled inside Lambeau Field during the ceremony. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

For years, we had heard the story about Bart Starr's college career at Alabama being derailed after suffering a back injury while punting for the school in practice. Turns out, he instead was the victim of a severe hazing injury.

Sixty years have passed, but the truth now has come out courtesy of Starr's wife, Cherry, whom he married at Alabama in 1954. She told AL.com the real story, after previously holding back on it, about her husband joining a student club for for varsity lettermen.

Starr no longer can reflect on his career, having been in declining health for years, but his wife wanted to set the record straight.

"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."

The damage suffered in the hazing ritual was so bad, she said, it hurt him from that point on.

"His back was never right after that. It was horrible," she said. "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 injury basically ended Starr's career at Bama after starting his first two years there, it made him "unfit" for military service and it affected him throughout his 16-year NFL career, spent entirely with the Green Bay Packers. Still, he turned in a Hall of Fame career, winning five championships (including two Super Bowls) and also coaching the team from 1975 to 1983.

Starr, 82, isn't seen much in public these days but was present at Lambeau Field for the jersey retirement ceremony for Brett Favre last summer.