College was Notre Dame. Had he gone there, he would have teamed with Notre Dame's quarterback Joe Theisman who later teamed with Starke in the Super Bowl victory over the Miami Dolphins. One last attempt to sidetrack Starke's Columbia decision was made by the University of Virginia, which offered him the opportunity to not only attend their school on full scholarship, but also be the person to desegregate their college. Starke declined this offer. While at Columbia College in New York City, Starke led his college football team in receptions as a tight end in 1969. At Columbia, Starke majored in physics and, in addition to football, also played center on a Columbia basketball team that featured All-Americans Jim McMillan and Haywood Dotsun. That Columbia basketball team would rise in the collegiate national basketball rankings to number 2 in the United States, just below UCLA. In 1983, Starke received Columbia's highest graduate award, the "John Jay Award" for prestigious graduate achievement. Pro football In spite of being drafted by the Redskins, Starke's pro football career had a rough start. Two weeks into Redskins training camp in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Starke was cut by the Redskins and went to Kansas City, Missouri to try out for the Kansas City Chiefs. After spending the remainder of the training camp with the Chiefs and being told he would make the squad, Starke was the last player cut by head coach Hank Stram just before the season began. In July 1972, Starke journeyed to Thousand Oaks, California to try out for the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys trained in the hills 40 miles north of Los Angeles to escape the heat of suburban Dallas, Texas. After six weeks of training camp with the Cowboys, Starke was cut but he was asked by the Redskins to return and try again. One year later and one year wiser, Starke made the Redskins roster. Placed originally on the taxi squad, Starke eventually moved up to the regular roster and by mid 1973 the starting position as right tackle. Initially, Starke played on coach George Allen's "Over the Hill Gang" and by 1979 under coach Jack Pardee, he was named offensive captain of the team. In 1981 under new coach Joe Gibbs, a young group of offensive linemen developed. This group, which became known as "The Hogs" later went on to become the most famous offensive group of linemen to