Class of '18 Finalist: Jerry Kramer

Green Bay Packer’s legendary right guard, Jerry Kramer was recently announced by the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Contributors Committee as a finalist for the Hall’s Class of 2018.
 
“Thank you very much David,” said Kramer on an exclusive phone with the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s President and CEO David Baker while informing the Packer’s legend, he was selected as a finalist for the Class of 2018. “Obviously I’ve been a finalist a time or two in the past and it’s always an honor. I appreciate this nomination and I’m a little bit short on words right now. My heart is pounding a bit and my stomach is turning a bit.”
 
To be elected, Kramer must receive the same 80 percent voting support by the entire 48-member Selection Committee on “Selection Saturday.” The Hall’s Selection Committee, at its annual meeting to be held on Saturday, February 3, 2018 in Minneapolis, Minn., will consider 18 finalists, including one Contributor Finalist (Kramer), two Seniors (Robert Brazile and Jerry Kramer), and 15 Modern-Era Finalists.
 
Kramer, drafted in the fourth round, 39th player overall, of the 1958 NFL Draft, starred for the Green Bay Packers for 11 seasons from 1958 to 1968. His leadership and talents helped the franchise capture five NFL championships and victories in Super Bowls I and II. He earned All-Pro acclaim five times and was voted to three Pro Bowls. Kramer was also named to the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 1960s, and to the NFL’s 50th Anniversary Team in 1969.
 
“Football has been a wonderful part of my live,” said the Packer’s 11-year right guard. “The game has been better than I would have ever dreamed. I think when I left Sandpoint High School as a senior, if I was told that I can attend an NFL game, I would have thought I was going to fairly land.”
 
If Kramer were to be inducted next year, he would become Green Bay’s 25th individual in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Packers’ total already is second in league history behind only the Chicago Bears with 27 inductees.

Along with being a gridiron great for the “Cheese Head” faithful’s, in 1967, Kramer added author to his name. He teamed up with Dick Schaap on his first book, the best-selling Instant Replay, a diary of the season which chronicled the life of a professional football player offensive lineman.
 
In 1985, Kramer wrote Distant Replay, which updated the whereabouts of the members of the Packers' Super Bowl I championship team.

Born and raised in eastern Montana, Kramer moved with his family 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 Vandals to play for new head coach Stahley.

Currently, Kramer is living in the town of Eagle, near Boise in southwestern Idaho. He has 6 children (Tony, Diana, Daniel, Alicia, Matt and Jordan) and 5 grandchildren (Heidi, Stephanie, Mariah, Myles, and Charles). His youngest sons Matt and Jordan also played college football at Idaho.