A Great Wrong Has Finally Been Righted

It may have took 45 years, but a great wrong has finally been righted when Jerry Kramer of Lombardi’s power sweep and the block that beat the Cowboys in the Ice Bowl (sorry Ken Bowman) fame has been finally elected to the NFL Hall of Fame today.

It couldn’t have happened to a more deserving player. Jerry Kramer is the 10th player elected to the Hall from the 1962 team that is considered the greatest team of all time led by the greatest coach of all time, Vince Lombardi.

(L-R) Paul Hornung, Jim Taylor, Max McGee, Bart Starr

Lombardi was elected in 1971 and five years later fullback Jim Taylor opened the gates for the team. The next year in 1977 right tackle Forrest Gregg and quarterback Bart Starr joined him followed by middle linebacker Ray Nitschke in 1978, left cornerback Herb Adderley in 1980, left defensive end Willie Davis and center Jim Ringo in 1981, halfback and kicker Paul Hornung in 1986, free safety/strong safety Willie Wood in 1989 while right defensive tackle Henry Jordan was on the list as a senior entry, but wasn’t elected. Jordan then made it six years later in 1995 and that seemed to the end of it until left outside linebacker Dave Robinson who was not a member of the 1962, but was a member of the 3-time championships team (1965-66-67) was elected as a senior in 2013.

Jerry Kramer was up for the Hall nine times as a modern era candidate (1974-76, 1978-81, 1984, 1987) and only once before as a senior in 1997 and, of course, if you’ve been paying attention, wasn’t elected. Well, finally 21 years later he not only made the seniors final list again, but got enough sympathy votes (a winner needs 80 percent of the vote) to get in because this was his last chance to get elected because too many new senior applicants will start to hit the list next year.

(L-R) Henry Jordan, Ray Nitschke, Dave "Hawg" Hanner, Willie Davis

Jerry Kramer is actually the seventh player to make the seniors final list for a second time with four of the previous six (Henry Jordan in 1995, Lou Creekmur in 1996, Bob Hayes, in 2009 and Claude Humphrey in 2014) being elected on their second chance and one (Dick Stanfel) being elected his third time around in 2016. The one that didn’t was Marshall Goldberg of the Chicago Cardinals in 1930’s and 1940’s.

The reasons are many for why Jerry Kramer should have been in the Hall of Fame a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (sorry). He was a 5 time All-Pro player and was a member of  5 championship teams, but the best reason he was voted the top guard on the NFL 50th Anniversary Team in 1969 and was, up until today, the only member of that 15-player team not in the Hall of Fame. So for that reason alone Jerry Kramer should have been elected to the NFL Hall of Fame a long time ago

The only reason it seems Jerry Kramer didn’t get elected when he first came up was a bias against electing too many Lombardi Packers. That may or may not be true, but in 1974 and 1975 the only one elected was Lombardi himself. Taylor then got in and over the next five years it was Gregg, Starr, Nitschke, Adderley and Ringo. All deserving. He was up again in 84. Hornung made it in 86 and he last made the cut in 87. Since then Wood, Jordan and Robinson were voted in.

The other reasons were he was too popular for making the block on Jethro Pugh and, presumably, taking credit and not giving credit to his center Ken Bowman, and for being a popular author of Instant Replay (a great book about the 1967 team) and the sequel Distant Replay. If being a self-promoter is a crime then how in the f****ng hell did Ray Lewis, Randy Moss and Terrell Owens get in. Just wondering.

Mainstays of the Lombardi Offensive Line (L-R) Forest Gregg, Jerry Kramer, Fuzzy Thurston, Bob Skoronski

Another story was that Bart Starr was campaigning for left tackle Bob Skoronski and not Jerry Kramer as the player from those teams that most deserved to be in the Hall of Fame and that certain members of the front office were saying that Gale Gillingham was a better guard than Kramer ever was.

It seems everything has been a long wait for Jerry Kramer. Back in 2006 he had his Super Bowl I ring returned after losing it in a airplane’s bathroom 25 years earlier. The ring came up for auction and the auction house pulled the offering and returned it to him after Jerry was contacted by Ray Nitschke’s son, who noticed it first, and then contacted them himself.

Well, all of that is behind us now. The 11th member of the Lombardi Dynasty Teams has been elected and most likely the last leaving left guard Fuzzy Thurston, wide receiver/punter Max McGee, wide receiver Boyd Dowler, wide receiver Carroll Dale, tight end Ron Kramer (1962), tight end Marv Fleming, left tackle Bob Skoronski, center Ken Bowman (he must hate it that Kramer has finally been elected), left defensive tackle Dave “Hawg” Hanner (1962), left defensive tackle Ron Kostelnik, right defensive end Dan Quinlin (1962), right defensive end Lionel Aldridge, left outside linebacker Dan Currie (1962), right outside linebacker Bill Forester (1962), right outside linebacker Lee Roy Caffey, strong safety Hank Gremminger (1962), right cornerback Jesse Whittenton (1962), right cornerback Bob Jeter, free safety Tom Brown, and kicker Don Chandler out in the Green Bay cold.

Of the remaining Lombardi Packers I would like Fuzzy Thurston, Max McGee, Boyd Dowler, Ron Kramer, Bob Skoronski and “Hawg” Hanner to be considered, but if I had to choose two it would be Fuzzy and Max, who are both gone now. I wish I had met them. Fuzzy because of the Packers Power Sweep with Kramer and Max for being the best player of Super Bowl I despite having a hangover.

#79 Dave "Hawg" Hanner

To sum it up. ‘BOUT TIME. Jerry enjoy the honor you deserve it. I hope the Packers are chosen to play in the Hall of Fame game next fall.