It's high time Kramer makes NFL Hall of Fame
SANDPOINT — In a television interview not too long ago, former Sandpoint High School, University of Idaho and Green Bay Packer football legend Jerry Kramer answered a question about why he isn’t in the NFL pro football Hall of Fame this way: “I feel like if I have to do some politik’n and pullin’ strings and doin’ those kind of things to get in, maybe I don’t deserve to be in and maybe I don’t need to.”
Nothing could be more spot on, yet at the same time so far from the truth.
Spot on in that the colorful, classy Kramer shouldn’t have to beat his own drum to gain enshrinement, yet downright false in that he doesn’t deserve or need to be in the Hall of Fame.
It’s high time the Senior Selection Committee understands what most NFL fans have long since known: Jerry Kramer deserves a bust in Canton, Ohio.
With that in mind, the Daily Bee has decided to do some politicking for him.
Kramer is the lone member of the NFL’s 50th anniversary team not in the Hall of Fame, an inexplicable fact. Many people, including NFL commissioner Roger Goodell until recently, assume he is already in the Hall of Fame.
An excuse from voters that there are already enough Packers from that era — 11 to be exact — already in the Hall of Fame is laughable.
NFL Films guru and driving force Steve Sabol, who has probably forgotten more about football than many folks will ever know, calls Kramer the best player in NFL history not in the Hall of Fame, and the NFL Network recently ran a segment on the top 10 players not in the Hall of Fame, with Kramer topping the list.
The two Senior Committee nominees for the class of 2011 are linebackers Chris Hanburger and Les Richter, again leaving Kramer off the ballot.
So what would you, readers from Kramer’s hometown, want to tell the more than 40 voters on the Hall of Fame selection committee, if given the chance?
Starting today, the Daily Bee will publish any and all submitted reasons leading up to the Super Bowl, where the class of 2011 will be announced.
To make your voice heard by the voters, simply e-mail your reason and name to “eplummer@bonnercountydailybee.com” for publication in the Bee and inclusion on a master list of reasons to be sent to each and every Hall of Fame voter. Reasons will be numbered, and run in the order they are received.
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Jerry Kramer facts
- Played football for Cotton Barlow at Sandpoint High School, graduating in 1954.
- Played guard and kicker at the University of Idaho, where he made the Vandal Hall of Fame and had his No. 64 jersey retired.
- Drafted with the 39th pick in the 1958 NFL draft by the Green Bay Packers.
- Played for the Packers from 1958 to 1968, winning five NFL championships and the first two Super Bowls.
- Named All-Pro five times, and voted to the NFL’s All-Decade team in the 1960s.
- A 6-3, 250 pound guard with good mobility, was a pulling blocker in arguably the signature play in NFL history — the famed Packers’ power sweep.
- Made “The Block” in the famous “Ice Bowl” game, propelling Bart Star into the end zone on a quarterback sneak for a 21-17 win over Dallas in the 1967 NFL championship game, considered by many the greatest game in NFL history.
- Was an excellent kicker, once leading the NFL in field goal percentage for a season.
- Was named to the NFL’s 50th Anniversary team, as well as best guard of the first 50 years.
- Pictured on a famous Sports Illustrated cover carrying coaching icon Vince Lombardi off the field after beating the Raiders in Super Bowl II.
- Has written three books, and currently lives in the Boise area, where he remains involved in a number of charities, including the Sandpoint Senior Center.