[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 98 (Wednesday, June 27, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1148]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SUPPORTING THE SELECTION OF IDAHO'S JERRY KRAMER INTO THE PRO FOOTBALL 
                              HALL OF FAME

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. MICHAEL K. SIMPSON

                                of idaho

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 27, 2012

  Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I would like to highlight the career and 
advocate for one of Idaho's most distinguished professional football 
players, Jerry Kramer.
  Jerry graduated from Idaho's Sandpoint High School and attended 
college at the University of Idaho on a football scholarship. He was a 
standout player there, garnering selections to both the East-West 
Shrine Game and the College All-Star Game.
  Over a dozen professional football teams courted Kramer and after 
being drafted 39th overall, he signed on to play guard for the Green 
Bay Packers in 1958. The Packers of that era, with help from Kramer, 
are the only team to win three championships in a row. Jerry Kramer 
made the ``Packer Sweep'' famous.
  Jerry Kramer is perhaps most famously known for ``The Block'' where 
he led quarterback Bart Starr into the end zone as time ran out in the 
1967 NFL Championship game, defeating the Dallas Cowboys in what is 
known as the ``Ice Bowl.''
  Jerry Kramer was a five-time All-Pro, a member of five championship 
teams, including the first two Super Bowls, and a member of the NFL's 
50th Anniversary All-Time team. He was named to the NFL's All-Decade 
Team of the 1960s at offensive guard and led the NFL in field goal 
percentage in 1962.
  Surprisingly, Jerry Kramer is the only player selected to the NFL's 
50th All-Time Anniversary team who has not been inducted into the Pro 
Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio
  It is time, Mr. Speaker, for this oversight to be corrected. Jerry 
Kramer is so highly regarded that seventeen current members of the NFL 
Hall of Fame, many who played against Kramer, have endorsed his 
nomination and election to the Hall. That list of players includes such 
greats as Roger Staubach, Frank Gifford, Alan Page, Bob Lilly, Jan 
Stenerud, Gino Marchetti and Coach Joe Gibbs, to name just a few
  Besides his contributions on the football field, Jerry is a highly 
regarded citizen of Idaho who gives his time to worthy causes including 
serving on the selection committee for the World Sports Humanitarian 
Hall of Fame. Idahoans are proud of his accomplishments and football 
fans throughout the state support his induction
  There is no doubt in my mind that Jerry Kramer's NFL career clearly 
qualifies him for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame

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