At 85 years old, Jerry Kramer's resume keeps getting longer. The NFL Hall of Famer and Super Bowl champion donned his cap and gown to receive an honorary degree from his alma mater.
The University of Idaho presented Kramer with an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. The honorary degree is given to individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary achievements.
"I was a little stunned by it. I enjoyed it. Tremendous honor, tremendous day, tremendous time up here and memories from long ago," Kramer said in response to the award.
It's been 63 years since Kramer left the University of Idaho for a career in the NFL.
Kramer went on to play 11 seasons in the NFL as an offensive lineman for the Green Bay Packers under legendary coach Vince Lombardi, who led the team to 5 NFL titles including the first two Super Bowls.
"He was always watching everybody and everything," Kramer said of Coach Lombardi. He recalled a time when the coach would run across the field and remind him of his high expectations. "'Concentration period of a college student is five minutes, high school is 3 minutes, kindergartner is 30 seconds and you don't have that? So where's that put you?' It put me checking my shoe shine, right?"
Those high expectations helped push Kramer to become a 5-time first team all-pro lineman and a 3-time pro bowl selection.
In 2018, Kramer added yet another title to his resume. Forty-four years after becoming eligible, and after being nominated 10 times, Kramer was selected inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame.
"Number 314. So, I'm number 314 in the Hall and by golly I think they've been doing it for 100 year so probably half of those guys are gone and so it's a brotherhood," Kramer said.
More than 60 years after Kramer left the University of Idaho for the NFL, he returned to campus to be honored, but also to offer the class of 2021 some advice.
"You don't do things right once in a while, you do them right all of the time, echoes of Lombardi of course, but those are wonderful philosophies and beliefs, Kramer said. "And they work in the business world if you work."
As for what's next for the football all star, he told KREM he wants to make a movie about Lombardi and those championship teams. Kramer didn't have an answer yet for who would play him, however when asked who should play Lombardi, Kramer said Robert De Niro.