The efforts of Green Bay Packers fans across the world have finally come to fruition.
Jerry Kramer is a Hall of Famer.
For decades, Packers fans and NFL writers alike have bemoaned the fact that Kramer, one of the legendary members of the Vince Lombardi-era Green Bay Packers, was left out of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. After his modern-era eligibility expired, Kramer’s regular exclusion from the list of Senior Finalists was a sore spot for those who believed that he deserved inclusion among the greats of the game.
According to a report from WBAY-2 in Green Bay, Kramer received the news Saturday afternoon that he will be part of the Hall of Fame class of 2018, which means that he should formally be introduced as part of that class during the NFL Honors this evening.
Kramer was a finalist for the honor a whopping eleven times — nine times between 1974 and 1987, then again as a Senior Finalist in 1997 and 2018. This year, however, was finally his time.
The only member of the NFL’s 50th Anniversary Team who had not been inducted to the Hall of Fame, Kramer was a five-time first-team All-Pro and a three-time Pro Bowler. During his 11-year career, all of which he spent in Green Bay, he and his teammates won five NFL championships plus Super Bowls I and II.
Kramer’s eleven years as a finalist tie him for the fourth-most in Hall of Fame history; he is tied with Rams guard Tom Mack behind the leaders, Steelers WR Lynn Swann (14), Vikings DE Carl Eller (13), and Packers RB and Kramer’s teammate Paul Hornung (12). All of those individuals were eventually enshrined in Canton, though three of the five were inducted before their modern-era eligibility expired; only Kramer and Eller were eventually inducted as Senior nominees.
The 2018 enshrinement ceremony will be held in Canton on Saturday, August 4, followed by the annual Hall of Fame Game on the following day.
APC sends our congratulations to Jerry and his entire family, particularly his daughter Alicia, who for years has helped to spearhead the efforts to get her father inducted into the Hall of Fame. Here’s to a fantastic NFL career and a job well done!