Back in late July, I wrote that Jerry Kramer and I had reached an agreement with Triumph Books to publish our upcoming book tentatively titled Run to Win and that it would be published in 2023. Triumph Books is the nation’s leading sports book publisher and are based out of Chicago.
I recently was told that the book can be pre-ordered sometime in March. The book itself will go to print on May 1. The book’s on-sale date is September 19, which falls at the beginning of the 2023 NFL season.
Run to Win will be the first book written about Jerry since 1985, when Jerry and Dick Schaap put out Distant Replay. Of the four books that Jerry put out, three became bestsellers. Instant Replay went all the way to No. 1. This book will cover Jerry’s career with the Green Bay Packers, which will include the fantastic draft class Jerry was part of in 1958, which was a key component in helping the Pack to win the NFL championships in 1961 and 1962. The book will also delve into Jerry’s remarkable comeback in 1965 after have nine medical procedures due to intestinal issues, which caused him to miss most of the 1964 season. In addition, the book will cover the unprecedented three straight NFL championships that the Packers won from 1965 through 1967. That will include a very insightful view of the “Ice Bowl”, also known as the 1967 NFL championship game. Plus, the book will entail the real reason Jerry retired, which is different than the official statement put out by the Packers. In the book, Jerry will add some very perceptive and illuminating commentary about Vince Lombardi, as well as his opinions about a number of his teammates, which will include all of the players who later were inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The foreword for the book was written by Jeremy Schaap of ESPN, who is Dick’s son. Jeremy is a 13-time Emmy Award winner and a NYT bestselling author. Jeremy was named after Jerry and is also the godson of Jerry.
The introduction was penned by Rick Gosselin of the Talk of Fame Network. Rick also is a voter for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and is on the Seniors Committee. Rick played a big role in helping Jerry get a bust in Canton in 2018. Rick was one of Jerry’s presenters to the full Hall of Fame Selection Committee, along with Pete Dougherty of the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
A number of people will add insightful commentary about Jerry. This list includes Paul Hornung, Boyd Dowler, Dave Robinson, Donny Anderson, Jim Grabowski, Chuck Mercein, Don Horn, Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss, Mark Murphy, Aaron Rodgers, Vince Lombardi Jr., Bart Starr Jr., Gilbert Brown and LeRoy Butler.
The list of teammates written about in this book include Hornung, Dowler, Robinson, Anderson, Grabowski, Mercein, Horn, Emlen Tunnell, Jim Taylor, Forrest Gregg, Bart Starr, Ray Nitschke, Herb Adderley, Willie Davis, Jim Ringo, Willie Wood, Henry Jordan, Bobby Dillon, Fuzzy Thurston, Max McGee, Ron Kramer, Gale Gillingham, Don Chandler, Dan Currie, Bob Skoronski, Doug Hart, Carroll Dale, Tommy Joe Crutcher, Lee Roy Caffey, Ron Kostelnik, Zeke Bratkowski and Elijah Pitts.
The book will also cover the frustrating 44-year period in which Jerry had to wait for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, even with Jerry being named as the only guard on the first team of the NFL 50th Anniversary Team in 1969. Jerry was also on the first team of the NFL All-Decade Team of the 1960s. Jerry came close on several occasions, as he was a finalist in 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1987 and 1997 (as a senior nominee), but he never received the necessary votes to get a bust in Canton. That all changed in 2018. Before he was inducted, Jerry received over 30 endorsements from peers/players who had already been enshrined in Canton. Many of those endorsements will be in the book.
Photo by John Biever
The book will also get readers caught up regarding Jerry’s family life, since it’s been 37 years since his last book. Plus, the book will cover Jerry’s athletic career before he began playing in the NFL.
In addition, the book will cover the charities that Jerry has supported throughout the years. One is Gridiron Greats, an organization that he originally founded. Another is the Boys & Girls Club of Door County. During the 13 years of the celebrity golf outings since Jerry became involved, the Club has raised $1,300,000. Jerry has also been involved with National Child Identification Program (NCIDP) for seven years. Plus, Jerry has also been very interested in stem cell therapy. I wrote a four-part series about that a few years ago, some of which will be in the book.
In addition, the book will also have Jerry reminiscing about getting together with celebrities like Johnny Carson, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Lee Marvin and Kirk Douglas. Speaking of Hollywood, Jerry got to be good friends with Richard Zanuck and David Brown, who produced films like Jaws and The Sting. The two of them offered Jerry the lead role in one of the top-grossing films in 1973 that they produced. Jerry turned down that offer, which is pretty ironic, knowing that his two biggest competitors in the NFL, Merlin Olsen and Alex Karras, later went on to become successful actors.
The book will also touch on the recent documentary put out about Jerry’s life, called You Can If You Will: The Jerry Kramer Story. The film was released in 2021 and I was a supervising producer for that film, which was directed by award-winning filmmaker Glenn Aveni.
Bottom line, Jerry and I hope that Run to Win is received with as much enjoyment as we had while putting this book together.
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