Jerry Kramer still tells a great story

The Star-Spangled Banner and the Sandpoint Bulldogs.

The reception he still receives as one of the Green Bay Packers’ all-time greats.

A back ailment no one seems to have a solution to.

His reaction to the push by relatives and others to get him into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Other injuries during his playing career, detected or otherwise.

Jerry Kramer, the former Sandpoint High, Idaho Vandal and Green Bay Packers great, who returned to the area last weekend as the guest of honor at a University of Idaho function at the Hayden Lake Country Club, covered it all in a recent conversation.

But mostly, the best-selling author, now 81 and living just outside Boise, told a lot of really good stories.

COMING HOME

Kramer said he makes it back to North Idaho perhaps a couple times a year. He has relatives and friends in Sandpoint and Spokane. Sometimes he’ll stop in Sandpoint on his way to fish at Lake Koocanusa.

In October 2015, at a Sandpoint Bulldogs home football game, he presented a gold football to his alma mater on an emotional evening at Barlow Stadium. It was part of an NFL promotion for those who played in the Super Bowl to give something back to their high school. Kramer returned to the field he played on in the early 1950s, a field named after his high school coach, “Cotton” Barlow.

“I certainly relived a few moments when I was there,” Kramer said. “Looking out over the field, remembering ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ as a sophomore, and how excited I was to be on the field. I always had a flashback. It was a terribly impressive evening for me. I must have been terribly excited, because virtually every time I’ve heard ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ before a ballgame, or anywhere, I was transported back to Sandpoint High, and the field by the lake. It took me home. I’m sitting in Yankee Stadium (years later, as a Green Bay Packer), getting ready for a game, and I’m thinking about Sandpoint.”

HIS TIME AS AN IDAHO VANDAL

“We were shirttail members of the PCC (Pacific Coast Conference),” said Kramer, who was drafted by the Packers in the fourth round in 1958, with the 39th overall pick (these days, the 39th overall pick is early in the second round). “We played Washington, Washington State, Oregon and Oregon State, and did not play the California schools, which was merciful.

“We played the University of Washington, and we could give them a pretty good game in the first half, 10-7, 14-10, and at the end of the game it was 55-7 or 55-10. They just kept running in teams. They’d play one team, and the second team would come in, and the guy was just as big and fast as the first-team guy. And then the third team would come in, and you had another guy that was big and fast. So they just wear you out, finally.”

KEEPING BUSY

Kramer sounds a lot like the rest of us — he enjoys his time at home, looks forward to getting away for a while, then looks forward to getting back home.

These days, he does speaking engagements, attends business meetings, does corporate outings. Last week, he flew from Wisconsin to Washington, D.C., with a planeload of Vietnam War veterans on an Honor Flight.

But a lot of his “job” is just to be Jerry Kramer. He goes back to Green Bay several times a year to sign autographs and interact with fans, most of whom weren’t even alive when he starred at right guard for the Packers from 1958-68.

Each time, he’s revered, and it’s all warm and fuzzy.

“It’s a little difficult to make a lot of sense out of it,” Kramer said of all the affection. “First of all, the autograph situation is a bit peculiar to begin with, and the sports fan, that’s an absolute nut, is really hard to figure out. I’ve been signing autographs in Green Bay since 1958. And I always thought that all the people that needed autographs would get ’em. And then they’d stop. But I go back there probably 8-10 times a year and sign autographs, and so far, there’s always been a nice bunch of people show up, and so I just look at it with amazement and say, ‘You know how old you are?’ So I tell ’em stories and visit with them, give ’em a hug and take a picture. I enjoy it. It’s not painful. It’s pleasant memories, and pleasant times. To be loved is not a difficult thing to deal with. So it’s all very positive, very pleasant, but it is a little hard to understand at times.”

Well, he did play on five NFL title teams, was named All-Pro six times (five on the first team), and the Packers won the first two Super Bowls. Also while in Green Bay, he co-wrote (with Dick Schapp) a best-seller, “Instant Replay,” a diary of his 1967 season with the Packers, which would be his second-to-last.

“A lineman normally labors in obscurity, and your mama don’t know what you’re doing out there,” Kramer said. “The book opened up a new world for me, and the coach, and the championships and everything. There are Packers fans all over the world. There’s a Packer fan club in Mexico that my daughter’s involved in, there’s a Packer fan club in Ireland, in England. I was in Green Bay last fall and a fellow from Moscow, Russia, came to the game, and he’d spent 14 hours flying to a ballgame. So it’s not just a Wisconsin thing ... it’s a phenomenon. I can’t explain it for you. I know that I’ve had 10,000 people come up to me at autograph sessions, at least, and tell me a story about going over to the grandma and grandpa’s for Sunday dinner. And with mom and dad, and all the kids, and grandma would cook a big dinner, and they’d all go into the living room and watch the ballgame. And you couldn’t walk in front of the TV. And you couldn’t talk, either. The whole family watched the Packers together, and it was a combination of the football thing and the family thing. There may be some logic in there somewhere.”

THE PUSH TO GET HIM INTO THE PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME

Twelve of his Packers teammates are in the Hall of Fame, but Kramer, despite all the accolades, isn’t. He’s been a finalist numerous times. His daughter, Alicia, has led the push nationally to get her father into the Hall. Last year, Bonner County Daily Bee sports editor Eric Plummer wrote a story, leading a push starting in Idaho.

“It’s very gratifying,” Kramer said of all the support. “The kid in Sandpoint did a beautiful job. It was interesting to see it picked up across the country.

“I have got no bitches about my history, my career, my time,” he said. “It has been a magnificent journey. If you had told me, when I left Sandpoint High back in 1954 that I would have a chance to see a championship game, that would have been sensational. Now if you had told me I would be on the field and actually compete in the championship, I would have called you crazy as hell. And then if you’d told me I would win a championship, and I would kick field goals in Yankee Stadium, and I would score the margin of victory by kicking in Yankee Stadium (three field goals and an extra point in a 16-7 win over the New York Giants in the 1962 NFL title game), I’d call you crazy as hell, and I’d have called somebody to put you away.

“But five championships? The best guard in the first 50 years of football (in 1969, he was named to the NFL’s 50th anniversary all-time football team)? They only picked one guard on the first team, and they picked me. Six-time all-pro, top-10 Packer of all time, on and on and on ... I couldn’t dream that kind of stuff.

“The same day that I was on the all-time 50-year team, my book is No. 1. We’re on the best-seller list for 40-some weeks. I’ve been given all these gifts, and I’m going to be pissed off because I didn’t get one? That seems kind of bullsh--. It would be nice to be in the Hall, no question about that, but damn, I’ve been fortunate. I’ve been very lucky.

“All the chances I’ve had to end my career with injuries and shotguns and sticks and god knows what? I’m lucky to be alive, let alone win all those championships.”

Still, that doesn’t stop people from (wrongly) assuming he’s in the Hall of Fame.

“Without exception, the last 50 years, until this movement started that I was not in the Hall of Fame, they introduced me as a Hall of Famer,” Kramer said. “The first 10 years or so I would say ‘No, that’s not correct. I’m not in the Hall of Fame.’ And it would start a conversation — “You’re not?” — which I had with (NFL) commissioner (Roger) Goodell. ‘What the hell is that about?’ He didn’t know I was not in the Hall.

“John Hannah, guard from New England, called me several years ago and said, ‘Jerry, are you going to Canton?’

“No.”

“How come?”

“John, I’m not in the Hall.”

“You’re not?”

“So the conversation got awkward. I don’t have any answers, I don’t have any logical conclusions why I’m not in. So I quit saying anything about it. If they introduced me as a Hall of Famer, I’d say ‘Hello.’”

Could it be because of the book? Too many Packers from that era already in the Hall?

“There could have been some resentment over that,” Kramer said of the book. “I’ve never had anyone come out and openly say that. It’s logical a writer might not look kindly on a football player doing this casually, and rewarded so richly, there might be some resentment there.

“There’s a lot of Packers in the Hall. But why did they put me on the all-time 50-year team? The only guard selected. There are several Packers in the Hall of Fame that weren’t selected for that all-time team. If they were pissed at me on a consistent basis, they would not have put me on that all-time team. That doesn’t really make a lot of sense.”

“Jerry, how come you’re not in the Hall?” he is asked repeatedly

“Sh--, I don’t know,” he replies. “I kind of expected to be when I went into the Packer Hall of Fame in ’75. I thought, ‘it’ll come along. Linemen, you wait your turn. We were finalist nine times. That doesn’t jive with the ‘too many Packers.’ If there’s too many Packers, why is he on there (the finalists ballot) at all?

“There’s a lot of things that don’t add up, but again, I’m not worrying about it. It’s been a helluva ride, and I wouldn’t trade a minute of it. It was an incredible experience. The coach (Vince Lombardi, also a Hall of Famer) was a life-changing experience. The team was sensational, lifelong pals ... just a lot of really good things about being a part of it.”

SKILL-POSITION PLAYERS

Years ago, folks used to refer to quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers and defensive backs as “skill-position players,” as if it didn’t take any skill to play on the offensive or defensive line, or at linebacker.

Try telling that to Jerry Kramer.

“I would like to have some of those skill players come inside and spend an afternoon with Merlin (Olsen). Or Alex (Karras). Or (Leo) Nomellini. Or a dozen other guys,” Kramer said. “We’ll see about skill.”

BACK ISSUES

Kramer said he’s had episodes of back problems for the past 40 years. He’s OK when he sits, but he can stand for only brief stretches, then he has to sit again.

Now, if they can only figure out the exact problem ...

“We’ve been to about 10 health care practicioners, which include three back specialists, two pain clinics, two massage therapists, two stem cell injections, the last one about four months ago, and currently we’re on our fifth or sixth chiropractic visit,” he said. “We’re looking at laser surgery casually right now.”

He said all the consultations with doctors have elicited pretty much the same response:

“Huh.”

... “Huh.”

... “Huh.”

“Maybe if we figure out what’s wrong, we’ll know why it happened,” Kramer said.

CONCUSSIONS, AND OTHER INJURIES

Things were a little different back then. For starters, there was no “concussion protocol.”

“I had a number of concussions,” Kramer recalled. “And generally, I stayed in the game. Either (Jim) Ringo (the Packers center) or Forrest Gregg (the right tackle) would tell me what to do on the play; I couldn’t remember the plays. We’d get up to the line of scrimmage ... ‘What do I do?’ ‘Go trap that guy over on the left end.’

“I broke a couple of ribs, and missed a play in the middle of the game, and went back in and finished the game. My team doc told me I had a pulled muscle. I said bullsh--. I know a pulled muscle, and that’s not a pulled muscle, it’s a busted rib.

“Aw, don’t worry about it. It won’t hurt you.”

“So I play that week against Merlin, we’re down in L.A. I go home, I go to a private doc and he says ‘Jerry, you have two busted ribs.’

“Hell, I knew that.”

“So I go tell my line coach, ‘Coach, you know those sore ribs I had?’

“Yeah.”

“I had two busted ribs.”

“No sh--. Don’t hurt anymore, do they?”

“So it had been seven or eight days since I busted them. I guess they were healed. I was looking for an attaboy, or way to go ... no. ‘They don’t hurt anymore, do they?’”

“So the many hurts seemed a small price to pay for having won, and there’s no reason at all that’s adequate for having lost,” Kramer said.

“And mostly, pain is in your mind. Mr. Lombardi had a wonderful philosophy about our pain — it rarely bothered him. We had a kid break a leg, Lionel Aldridge, defensive end. In a week or 10 days, he’s out on the practice field, trying to run. And he’s kinda hobblin.’ He runs by the field where we’re practicing, we hear this ‘Aldridge! As long as your broken leg is not a weight-bearing bone, you don’t even need the damn thing. Now run on it.’”

“Did you know there were bones in your leg that are not weight-bearing, that you didn’t need?” Kramer asked me.

No.

“Well, I hope you never find out.”

Imagine that going on today. It was a different era back then.

“There was an extreme bond on that team, and we were in a position where we didn’t want to let the guys down,” Kramer said. “We didn’t play for the coach. We didn’t play for the money. We played for our teammates. And I played with a 103 fever, and busted ribs, and chipped vertebraes and detached retinas and concussions, and it wasn’t for anything other than to not let my teammates down.

“I’d do it again today. That’s the way we were.”

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.