AllGreenBayPackers.Com

JERRY KRAMER, G, GREEN BAY PACKERS

Career Highlights:

Played 11 Seasons for the Green Bay Packers, 1958-1968

Played in 4 League Championship games and two Super Bowls

Earned 5 Championship rings.

5-Time All-Pro and 3 Pro Bowls

The Case for Jerry Kramer:

A fourth round draft pick in 1958, (selected after Jim Taylor and Ray Nitschke), Kramer earned a starting job immediately. As a rookie, the 6′ 3″, 250-lb Kramer quickly gained the reputation as a tenacious player that could hold his own against the best defensive tackles. In 1959, a fiery new coach came to town and soon recognized Kramer’s talent. Years later, Vince Lombardi would say of Kramer, “He didn’t know how good he was…”

Lombardi helped develop Jerry Kramer into an All-Pro NFL guard.  Kramer became the key blocker to the success of the famous Green Bay Packer sweep. Along with fellow guard Fuzzy Thurston, it was Kramer’s job to provide the inside “seal” Vince Lombardi famously talked about, keeping pursuing linebackers or defensive backs away from Jim Taylor and Paul Horning.

While Hall-of-Fame membership has eluded Jerry Kramer, fame itself has not. In the historic Ice Bowl game against the Dallas Cowboys, Kramer threw the most famous and recounted block in the history of the NFL, giving Bart Starr just enough room to score the winning TD. Kramer also appeared in one of the most famous Sports Illustrated covers ever, the classic photograph of Kramer carrying Vince Lombardi off the field after the Packers’ Super Bowl II victory.  Read more... (1101 words + 3 images, estimated 4:24 mins reading time)

---- Get AddToAny

That's Packers great Reggie White wrestling Steve McMichael in WCW.

This is chapter 1 in a series examining the history of the NFL, the Green Bay Packers and professional wrestling. The introduction to the series can be read here.

In 1986, Vince McMahon, Jr. was in the middle of transforming the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from a regional promotion in the northeast to a national powerhouse that would eventually wipe out every other wrestling territory in the United States. McMahon used his deep pockets to lure away top wrestlers like Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper from rival promotions. He also used his marketing and promotional skills to develop many of his wrestlers into larger than life characters with mainstream appeal.

But McMahon was not satisfied with running a successful wrestling promotion. He wanted to create an entertainment empire that happened to involve wrestling. He wanted the WWF to be viewed on the same level as a major movie studio that produced blockbuster films, or a record label with bands that released No. 1 hits.

To achieve this, McMahon knew he needed more than top-level wrestling talent. He needed something that could make wrestling “cool,” something that would appeal to a younger generation and people who normally did not pay attention to wrestling.

The Rock ‘n Wrestling connection was born.

Wrestling Becomes Cool
McMahon partnered with MTV in the mid-80s to reach the younger and hipper audience he was targeting. He also brought in rock singers and celebrities like Cyndi Lauper to broaden the WWF’s brand beyond the scope of traditional professional wrestling.  Read more... (1682 words + 1 image, estimated 6:44 mins reading time)

---- Get AddToAny

It seems that like no matter what Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers does in his career, someone has a question about him.

First, there was the question of whether he was athletic enough to succeed as a starter in the NFL. That was answered in 2008.

Then there were the doubts of whether or not he could lead the Packers to the postseason. He checked that one off in 2009.

Next it became whether or not Rodgers could win a playoff game and truly replace Brett Favre in the hearts and minds of Packers fans. He finally sealed the deal on that one with a Super Bowl title in 2010 (although the hearts and minds of many were already won by the start of 2010).

Now there is another question involving Rodgers, but I don’t think he would mind this one being asked around too much especially this early in his career:

“Is Aaron Rodgers on the path to enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame?”

Before we can even begin to answer that question, there should be one huge disclaimer attached: Rodgers has played six NFL seasons and has seen enough meaningful action in three of them.  Hall of Fame enshrinement is judged upon a player’s entire career so to prognosticate Rodgers’ chances after three seasons as a starter is a little preposterous.

All that said, we can look at some trends from these past three seasons and try to play the role of Nostradamus in gauging how Rodgers will finish his career.  Read more... (1033 words + 1 image, estimated 4:08 mins reading time)

---- Get AddToAny

April 22, 20101 Green Bay, Wis. – Don Hutson, a Green Bay Packer Hall of Famer who played for the Packers from 1935 to 1945, hosted a radio program in the late 1940s. Selected recordings of this program are now part of the Packers Hall of Fame archives of Packers history.

Don Hutson’s nephew, Steve Hutson of Mequon, WI, donated the unusual vinyl-coated aluminum records that are 16 inches in diameter and play from the center to the outside. The Packers Hall of Fame audio engineer needed to purchase a custom-made turntable in order to play them and convert the recordings to digital MP3 files. There are three records, including one of Don Hutson’s audition for the radio show.

Tom Murphy, the Packers Hall of Fame archivist, said “these records are a great addition to our archive of physical items — but to also have these recordings in digital format really makes this donation special. We can make clips available to our members via our new online digital archive (packershalloffame.com/access-pass) and we can offer them to fans as a digital download (packershalloffame.com/online-store).

Steve Hutson said “Lee Remmel previously suggested the Hall of Fame might be able to do something with these records. It’s wonderful that my uncle’s commentary about Packers football in 1949 has been digitized and can now be heard by Packer fans throughout the world.”  Read more... (458 words + 3 images, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

---- Get AddToAny

Below are the contents of a press release issued today (04/20/11) by the Packers Hall of Fame.

Packers Hall of Fame Launches Digital Archive of Packers History

April 20, 2011, Green Bay WI

 The Packers Hall of Fame has enhanced their online presence with a multi-faceted approach:

Follow Jersey Al:

          Follow @JerseyAlGBP           Add to Circleson

Jersey Al Bracco is the founder and editor of AllGreenBayPackers.com, and the co-founder of Packers Talk Radio Network. He can be heard as one of the Co-Hosts on Cheesehead Radio and is the Green Bay Packers Draft Analyst for Drafttek.com.

---- Get AddToAny