George Lawrence Starke was born on July 18,1948 and is an American business owner, activist, broadcaster and former professional football player who was an offensive tackle for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League from 1973 to 1984.
20 Facts About George Starke
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George Starke played college football for the Columbia Lions and was selected by the Washington Redskins in the 11th round of the 1971 NFL draft.
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George Starke appeared with the Redskins in two Super Bowls, helping them win Super Bowl XVII.
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Starke's professional football career lasted 13 years and, at the time of his retirement, Starke had been captain of the Redskins for five years.
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George Starke was named one of the 70 greatest players in Redskins history.
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In 1997, George Starke founded the "Excel Institute" in Washington, DC, a not-for profit adult education vocational training school for at risk individuals above the age of 16.
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George Starke grew up in New Rochelle, New York and attended public schools there.
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George Starke was inducted into the New Rochelle and Westchester County Halls of Fame.
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George Starke decided to attend Columbia College after having traveled much of the United States on a college tour that was sponsored by the many institutions offering him admission and full scholarships.
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At Columbia, George Starke majored in physics and, in addition to football, played center on a Columbia basketball team that featured All-Americans Jim McMillan and Haywood Dotsun.
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In 1983, George Starke received Columbia's highest graduate award, the "John Jay Award" for prestigious graduate achievement.
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Two weeks into Redskins training camp in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, George Starke was cut by the Redskins and went to Kansas City, Missouri to try out for the Kansas City Chiefs.
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In July 1972, George Starke journeyed to Thousand Oaks, California to try out for the Dallas Cowboys.
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One year later and one year wiser, George Starke made the Redskins roster.
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Regardless of the fact that he was ten years older than the rest, George Starke became their leader and as such he became known as the "Head Hog".
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Later with the "Hogs", George Starke returned for Super Bowl XVII and Super Bowl XVIII after the 1982 NFL season and 1983 NFL season winning the first against the Miami Dolphins and losing the second against the Oakland Raiders.
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George Starke was accepted into Ford Motor Companies Dealer Operations Training School in Baltimore, Maryland.
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In 1989, George Starke founded a beer company called "Head Hog Premium Beer" that sold beer within the historic Redskins broadcast footprint, which extended from Delaware in the north to Georgia in the south.
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In 1996, being alarmed by the spike in youth violence in the District of Columbia and determining that violence was primarily a job issue, that involved a large number of youth who were illiterate and therefore unemployable, rather than a crime issue, George Starke founded a not-for profit job training facility he named the Excel Institute.
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In October 2010, after graduating over 500 students, George Starke retired from management and the Board of the Excel Institute.