He played college football for the Columbia Lions and was selected by the Washington Redskins in the 11th round of the 1971 NFL draft.
In 1997, Starke founded the "Excel Institute" in Washington, D.C., a not-for profit adult education vocational training school for at risk individuals above the age of 16.
[3] Upon graduation from New Rochelle High School, Starke received a series of football awards, including All-Westchester County, All-Metropolitan, All-State and All-American.
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.
[citation needed] In spite of being drafted by the Redskins, Starke's pro football career had a rough start.
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.
The Cowboys trained in the hills 40 miles north of Los Angeles to escape the heat of suburban Dallas, Texas.
Placed originally on the taxi squad, Starke eventually moved up to the regular roster and by mid 1973 the starting position as right tackle.
At the same time, Starke began his career in television broadcasting building on his many TV appearances in conjunction with local sports personalities who interviewed him as captain of the Washington Redskins.
After his retirement from pro football, Starke hosted PM Magazine and co-hosted the show Redskins Saturday Night with Pete Wysocki.
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, Starke founded a not-for profit job training facility he named the Excel Institute.
Two basic tenets of the Institute were that (1) anyone above the age of sixteen who wanted to attend was admitted and (2) all students were on full scholarship - i.e., nobody had to pay.
[4] They share their residence with son, George Lawrence Starke, IV and the family dog, Coconut.