Jerry Kramer (footballer)

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Gerald Louis Kramer (b. January 23, 1936 at Jordan, Montana) is a former professional American football player (and author), best remembered for his 11-year NFL career with the Green Bay Packers as an offensive lineman. As a 6'3", 250 lb. right guard, #64 was an integral part of the famous "Packer Sweep", which featured both guards pulling out from their normal positions and lead-blocking for the running back going around the end. Kramer was an All-Pro five times, and a member of the NFL's 50th anniversary team in 1969, but surprisingly, even after appearing on the list of finalists ten times since becoming eligible, has not been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Green Bay Packer Hall of Fame in 1975.

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[edit] Early Years

Jerry Kramer's family moved from northern Utah to northern Idaho when he was in the fourth grade, settling in Sandpoint. After graduating from Sandpoint High School in 1954, he accepted a football scholarship to the University of Idaho. In that era, Idaho was a member of the Pacific Coast Conference, the forerunner of the Pac-10. Kramer was a standout player for the Vandals, along with teammate (and roommate) Wayne Walker of Boise, a future All-Pro linebacker with the Detroit Lions. Both were drafted in the fourth round of the 1958 NFL draft. Being the first two players drafted from Idaho, they would both have their numbers retired later by the university. Both also played in the East-West Shrine Game and the College All-Star Game that summer, in which they defeated the defending NFL champion Detroit Lions.

[edit] NFL career

Kramer was the 39th player selected in the 1958 NFL draft, taken in the fourth round by the Green Bay Packers. The first four rounds of the draft were held on December 2, 1957. Two Packer Hall-of-Famers were taken in this draft: fullback Jim Taylor of LSU, in the second round (15th overall), and linebacker Ray Nitschke of Illinois in the third round (36th overall). Kramer played every game in his rookie season of 1958, but the Packers finished with the worst record (1-10-1) in the 12-team league. In January 1959, the Packers hired a new head coach, Vince Lombardi, the offensive coordinator of the New York Giants. Lombardi's playing position in college was the same as Kramer's, never an easy situation for any player, but especially challenging when the coach was as disciplined and demanding of perfection as Lombardi.

With Kramer playing solidly at right guard, the Packers would win five NFL titles and the first two Super Bowls. Kramer also served as the team's place kicker in 1962, 1963, and part of 1968. As a kicker, he kicked 29 field goals, 90 extra points, for a total of 177 points. He also kicked 3 field goals and 1 extra point in the Packers 16-7 victory over the New York Giants in the 1962 NFL title game. In college, he was also a kicker, with Wayne Walker as long snapper. Walker was also a placekicker for the Detroit Lions midway through his career.

During his career, Kramer was often injured. Among these were surgery to remove wood fragments embedded in his body from a teenage accident, and a badly injured ankle suffered in 1961. In all, Kramer played in 129 regular season games; he also had 22 surgeries in 11 seasons, including a colostomy, which he described as nightmare most people don't know of yet. Despite these setbacks, Kramer was selected as an All-Pro in 1960, 1962, 1963, 1966, & 1967.

[edit] Author

In his penultimate season of 1967, Kramer collaborated with Dick Schaap on his best-selling first book, Instant Replay, a diary of the season which highlighted the heretofore obscure work of an offensive lineman. It climaxed with Kramer's lead block in front of Bart Starr to win the legendary "Ice Bowl" championship game. Kramer and Schaap would write two more books together. Kramer played one more year, retiring from the NFL following the 1968 season. After that season, which saw the Packers powerhouse fall apart into a losing season, he published a sequel book, Farewell to Football.

Jerry Kramer is now living in Augusta,Maine. In October 2005, he released Inside the Locker Room a c.d. set that includes Vince Lombardi’s final locker room address as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers, immediately following the conclusion of Super Bowl II. In September 2006, Kramer is scheduled to re-release his 1968 best seller, Instant Replay.

Kramer has 6 children and 4 grandchildren. His sons Matt & Jordan also played college football at Idaho. Jordan has been an NFL linebacker since 2003, initially with the Tennessee Titans, moving to the Atlanta Falcons in 2005.

[edit] External links

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