NFL Legend Lends Helping Hand

Former Green Bay Packers legendary guard Jerry Kramer was a beast on the football field. His dominating presence was one key factor in Vince Lombardi and his squads dominance of the NFL in the sixties.

During the time Kramer played in Green Bay from 1958-68, the Pack won five NFL championships, including Super Bowls I and II. Kramer was a leader, a solid teammate and a winner. He was a five-time all-pro and named to the all-NFL 50th anniversary team in 1970.

Now the 70-year old Kramer is still leading and winning. Only his goal now is not to win championships - it's to help retired players in financial trouble.

How can any NFL player be in dire straights? We'll the big money era in professional football didn't begin until the eighties. The salaries really went sky high when the free agency era began in 1993. These millionaires today should be set for life. Back then the money wasn't so great.

Kramer made a whopping $8,000 his first year in the league. When he made all-pro in 1960, his earnings were $9,000 a year! The most he made in one season in the NFL was $27,000 during Green Bay's Super Bowl heyday.

The players from his era were allowed to start collecting a pension when they turned 45, but the payout dropped dramatically when they turned 62 and could collect Social Security. For example, Kramer's pension was $452 dollars a month until he turned 62, when it fell to $158. As a matter fact, players who retired before 1959, aren't even on the NFL Pension Plan.

In an effort to do something about the problem, the Packer great recently sold a replica of his Super Bowl I championship ring for $19,000. All the proceeds went to help older players.

"I have always felt great concern and frustration regarding the condition of some of the retired players who helped build the league," Kramer said when he announced he was putting the ring up for auction. " I won't see a dime of that."

Kramer plans on having more auctions to raise funds and is setting up a charitable trust that will distribute money to needy players.

Kramer has answered the call once again and is leading the way. Just like he did for Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor on the Packer Sweep. Let's hope other former and current players will lend a hand and help out their comrades in need. These men who played key roles in making the game what it is today.

For some unknown reason, Jerry Kramer is not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Despite this miscarriage of justice, number 64 has proven once and for all, he is a hall of famer - on and off the field.

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