Kramer to be guest speaker at North Idaho sports awards banquet
Photo by JASON DUCHOW PHOTOGRAPHY Jerry Kramer rests his hand on the plaque noting his upcoming induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The plaque was presented to Sandpoint High School to acknowledge them as an official high school of the hall and to honor Kramer’s hometown roots.
COEUR d’ALENE — Jerry Kramer, a favorite son of Sandpoint and the most decorated pro football player to come out of the University of Idaho, will be the featured speaker at the North Idaho Hall of Fame High School Awards Banquet on Saturday at The Coeur d’Alene Resort.
The banquet, which will honor high school athletes, coaches and teams from Idaho’s District 1 and 2, is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. with doors opening at 5:30. Tickets for the banquet will be on sale online until noon Thursday and then will not be available. No tickets will be sold at the door. Tickets are $29.43 apiece and can be purchased on the North Idaho Hall of Fame website — nihof.org — in the middle left of the web page, click on the brown button that says purchase tickets.
Kramer is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame, the University of Idaho Hall of Fame and the North Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame.
Kramer was born in eastern Montana and, after living in Utah, his family moved to Sandpoint when he was in fourth grade. He graduated from Sandpoint High in 1954 and accepted a football scholarship to play at the University of Idaho. He was a two-way player for the Vandals on the offensive and defensive lines, and he also lettered in track and field in the discus and shot put. His UI travel roommate on the football team was Wayne Walker, who went on to be an all-pro linebacker with Detroit. Kramer played in the East-West Shrine Game and the College All-Star Game in Chicago in which the college team defeated the defending NFL champion Detroit Lions. He also played in the Senior Bowl.
Kramer was then the 39th selection of the NFL draft in 1958, taken in the fourth round by Green Bay. He played every game in his rookie season, but the Packers finished 1-10-1 and fired their coach following the season, hiring Vince Lombardi. The rest, as they say, is history.
With Kramer playing right guard, the Packers won five NFL titles and the first two Super Bowl titles. He was a five-time first-team All-Pro selection and also a two-time second team pick. He was named to both the NFL’s 1960s All-Decade Team and the NFL’s 50th Anniversary Team.
He also kicked for the Packers, where he played a total of 130 games. He went 29 of 54 in field goals and 90 of 95 in extra point attempts.
He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018.
Kramer currently resides in the Boise area.