Jimmy Starr Memorial Scholarship

Each year coaches and alumni of the 1979 Carnegie Mellon University football team award the accomplishments of an outstanding student-athlete with the presentation of the Jimmy Starr Memorial Scholarship.  The scholarship is awarded annually to a football player who best exemplifies the qualities and character of Jimmy Starr.

There was a special aura about Jimmy that touched the people he touched. It was apparent through his years as a star quarterback for Peabody High School (PA). He led the Highlanders to victory after victory, winning the city football championship during the 1975-76 season. He was an All-City quarterback.

And it carried over to his years at Carnegie Mellon University, where he volunteered to play tight end after he learned someone else had been given the quarterback slot he had coveted.

He practiced hard to learn blocking. It was grueling, but he rolled with the punches, determined to be the best tight end. His grades suffered awhile but he came out of the slump and was headed for a bright future as a metallurgical engineer. Allegheny Ludlum had picked him as a choice prospective employee.

His team members had great respect for No. 84. More than that, they loved Jimmy Starr.

Starr was an inspiration. He would encourage them individually, pull them together as a team when things seemed bleak. He was a friend and a confidant.

Jimmy was killed in an automobile accident on June 14, 1979 prior to the start of his senior year. His teammates believed his fighting spirit on the field and in the classroom set an example they wanted to preserve. That spirit prevails through the Jimmy Starr Scholarship Fund established by the coaches and players from the 1979 Tartans.

The Scholarship perpetuates the memory of Jimmy Starr, a truly special individual.