‘Run to Win’ is Off to a Great Start

The official publication of Run to Win happened less than two weeks ago, and I’m pleased to announce that the book which I wrote with Hall of Famer Jerry Kramer is off to a great start.

We had two book-signing events this past week, one at the Green Bay Packers Pro Shop inside the Lambeau Field Atrium and the other was a combination Q & A/book-signing at both NŌ STUDIOS and Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery in Milwaukee.

WBAY in Green Bay reported that there was a line stretched outside the doors of the Packers Pro Shop when Jerry and I signed Run to Win there on September 26. We were thrilled with that reception. Thanks to Chrysta Jorgensen and her staff at the Pro Shop for putting this together.

We also had a very nice crowd for the event at NŌ STUDIOS on September 29, which was covered by WISN Channel 12 in Milwaukee. The Sports Director for Channel 12, Dario Melendez, moderated the Q & A session at NŌ STUDIOS, plus Dario interviewed both Jerry and I there. We want to thank Oscar winner John Ridley and his sister Lisa Caesar for allowing us to use their wonderful venue for this event.

Afterwords, we headed to the nearby Best Place, where we continued signing books. The Best Place also offered beer and other adult beverages to the crowd, which also included 150 brats, which were donated by Johnsonville. Speaking of wonderful venues, Best Place offered a superb atmosphere to continue the evening. Jim Haertel and his staff at Best Place treated Jerry and I like royalty, plus gave us and others a tour of the iconic Pabst Brewery.

The wonderful evening at both NŌ STUDIOS and Best Place was set up by producer, author and attorney Chris Olsen. The copies of Run to Win for people to buy and get signed were provided by Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee.

Besides the book-signing events, Jerry and I were also on a number of radio shows promoting the book, plus Rich Ryman of the Green Bay Press-Gazette put out a very nice article about Run to Win, which appeared in all the Gannett publications in Wisconsin, including the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Jerry and I are very proud of this book, in which we were able to get some assistance from some very notable people. Jeremy Schaap wrote the foreword for the book, while Rick Gosselin, a voter for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and a key member of the Seniors Committee, wrote the introduction.

Plus, Run to Win had a number of blurbs and praises from outstanding individuals like David Maraniss, Mark Murphy, Bud Selig, David Baker, Vince Lombardi Jr, Bart Starr Jr. and the late, great Paul Hornung. Other former members of the Packers also offered their kind thoughts, and this group includes Aaron Rodgers, LeRoy Butler and Gilbert Brown.

The book chronicles the start of Kramer’s career in Green Bay in 1958 and his entire career with the Packers, in which he was part of five NFL championship teams and two Super Bowl-winning teams under head coach Vince Lombardi. This also includes being on a squad which won three straight NFL titles (1965, 1966 & 1967) in the playoff era, which has never been duplicated before or since.

The book also entails chapters about Coach Lombardi, Bart Starr, Willie Davis, Paul Hornung, Ray Nitschke, Max McGee, Fuzzy Thurston, Boyd Dowler, Emlen Tunnell, Dave Robinson, Don Chandler, Jim Taylor, Henry Jordan, Lee Roy Caffey, Doug Hart, Zeke Bratkowski, Carroll Dale, Ron Kramer, Forrest Gregg, Herb Adderley, Gale Gillingham, Jim Ringo, Bob Skoronski, Willie Wood, Dan Currie, Tommy Joe Crutcher, Ron Kostelnik, Elijah Pitts, Donny Anderson, Jim Grabowski, Chuck Mercein and Don Horn.

Run to Win also devotes a chapter to Jerry’s very close friend, the late, great Dick Schaap.

Plus, the book also includes a chapter on the five toughest defensive tackles Jerry had to face in his NFL career.

Run to Win also describes the 44-year wait Kramer had to go through before he was rightfully enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The book also includes how Jerry used controlled anger when he played, which led to five First-Team All-Pro honors, as well as three Pro Bowl berths. Jerry was also named to the NFL All-Decade Team of the 1960s.

In addition, there is a chapter about Jerry’s encounters with celebrities, which later led to an opportunity for Kramer when he was offered the lead role in one of top-grossing films of 1973.

Bottom line, Run to Win has this and much more, which also includes a number of never-before-seen items that Jerry has never written about in his four previous books (Instant Replay, Farewell to Football, Lombardi: Winning is the Only Thing and Distant Replay). By the way, three of the four books were bestsellers and Instant Replay went all the way to No. 1 on the bestsellers list.

Run to Win can be ordered at places like Triumph Books (our publisher), Amazon, Walmart, Target, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee and the Packers Pro Shop.