'It's been overwhelming:' Kramer promises story about Packers fan dedication during HOF induction
Jerry Kramer
CANTON, Ohio -- It's a call that could've come more than four decades ago, but after all the waiting, Green Bay Packers guard Jerry Kramer will finally be inducted into the Pro Football of Fame on Saturday, Aug. 4.
On Thursday, Aug. 2, Kramer took part in an autograph session and then the Hall of Fame Game -- with the Bears and Ravens kicking things off at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. Before the game, the Hall of Fame Class of 2018 was introduced to the crowd, including Kramer, who waited a long time for this moment. On Friday, Kramer gets his gold jacket ahead of Saturday's enshrinement ceremony.
"It was a obviously a wonderful experience to finally succeed, finally get in the Hall, get in the game, and it's been just overwhelming with opportunities, and decisions to make and interviews to do and speeches and talking assignments and a variety of things, but I've always enjoyed the Packer affiliation and it's just much, much stronger now and the ability to go somewhere and talk about the Lombardi principles, the philosophy Coach Lombardi brought with him and taught us is something I've enjoyed most of my life and how can you not enjoy reliving the best years of your life? Ten, 11 years here with a group of guys we had and the coach was a wonderful experience. Five titles in seven years, that just doesn't happen," said Kramer.
FOX6's Kaitlin Sharkey: "And your family played a huge role in getting you here and helped getting you there. Your daughter especially. What does that sort of campaign mean to you and were you kind of surprised by the outpouring of support?"
Jerry Kramer
"Well, I asked her not to do it at first and she's like her mother. She's going to do it, OK? So we didn't argue over it. She got a young guy to help her who wanted to volunteer. She's done it for six or seven years, and maybe a year or two into it, he's a PR guy and he said 'why don't we get some letters from the Hall of Famers,' so she got, they got 60 to 65 letters from Hall of Famers who suggested I should be in the Hall, and this made her feelings a lot stronger. Merlin Olsen, Staubach, Bob Lily, those kind of guys were writing me letters right? And so she felt much better about making the campaign -- felt like 'how come you're not in Dad?' 'I don't know. I guess it's because I played guard instead of running back or quarterback or something. There are no statistics for a guard,'" said Kramer.
FOX6's Kaitlin Sharkey: "'Packers Nation' no doubt will be watching the festivities in it's entirety. What would you say to fans as kind of a 'OK, here I am. I finally made it.' Everyone has been waiting for you to make it and now you're here. What would you say to Packers fans watching?"
"Thank you. Thank you. I got a story I'm going to tell during the speech, so I don't want to tell it now, but it's about the Packers fans and when I first understood the depth of their knowledge, of their commitment, of their sportsmanship. I got a glimpse of the Packer fans my last season and I want to tell a story about that at Canton so stay tuned!" said Kramer.