Former Vandal and Green Bay Packers lineman Jerry Kramer was awarded as an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Idaho this weekend.
During a meeting with Vandal Athletics in the Kibbie Dome on Sunday, Kramer told of his experiences throughout life, before and after UI, and shared his insights on his motivations in sports.
After graduating from Sandpoint High School, Kramer attended UI on a football scholarship. He played as a guard and kicker for Vandal football, as well as competing on the track and field team, setting records in shot put.
One skill Kramer said he learned early on and used to motivate himself throughout his college career was what he called “positive anger.”
During a high school track meet in Boise, with thousands in the crowd during shot put, Kramer said he choked and only threw 30 feet, as the judges stood 50 feet out.
“It was so short they don’t know where it hit,” Kramer said.
They couldn’t mark it, so they gave Kramer another throw.
“So now I get a little angry,” Kramer said. “I’m cussing myself for being a fool. And I’m cussing everything around there. I’m burning and I’m getting hot.”
Kramer said he threw the next shot and it landed at 51 feet, quite the step up from 30.
“I pondered that for quite a while,” Kramer said. “Finally, I came to the university and used the anger and that energy in football and in track. I would make up stuff.”
Kramer said he would imagine something, like his competitor shot his dog or burned his house down and he would make him pay, to get himself pumped.
“It was a dramatic difference in the strength, ability and everything you’re doing if you can get that burn, that hunger, that fire, that something involved with you,” Kramer said.
After graduating from UI, Kramer was drafted by the Green Bay Packers. He played 11 seasons as a guard, from 1958 to 1968, where the team would receive five NFL Championships and wins in Super Bowls I and II.
Kramer worked as a CBS television analyst in 1969 for NFL games and famously co-authored the book “Instant Replay,” a memoire on the 1967 NFL season, which would be the last with their coach Vince Lombardi.
Kramer said one day the renowned sportswriter Dick Schaap had called him on the phone and asked him to help write a book.
“I don’t know anything about writing a book,” Kramer said he immediately thought.
Kramer said Schaap had told him to just tape everything and he would edit it.
“You’re going to tape your conversations, events, practices, thoughts, emotions. Everything about your game,” Kramer said he was told.
Kramer said Schaap had told him to write with many long, flowery words, which seemed an intimidating request to him as someone who didn’t know much about writing.
“I looked in the mirror and said ‘Hey fool. It is what it is,’” Kramer said. “And you is what you is. And all you need to do is tell it exactly like you see it, and exactly like you believe it to be. And if they don’t like it, they don’t like it.’”
According to Vandal Athletics, Kramer’s number 64 football jersey was officially retired in 1963, and in 2018 Kramer was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Kramer said his life has been “serendipitous.”
This article has been updated to show the full title of Jerry Kramer’s honorary degree
Cody Roberts can be reached [email protected] or on Twitter @CodyRobReports