If you’re a Packer fan, you know the name of Jerry Kramer. A former offensive lineman and kicker for the Green Bay Packers who played with the team for 11 years, he was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018. He played under Vince Lombardi, protected quarterback Bart Starr, and helped win the team’s first two Super Bowls.
You might not know the name of Bob Fox, but he’s a big part of the reason you know the name Jerry Kramer.
Bob Fox, perhaps better known as “Green Bay Bob” is a sports writer, commentator, and a UWM alum. He’s also one of Kramer’s biggest promoters, and together they co-authored a new book titled, Run to Win: My Packers Life from Lombardi to Canton. The book is due out on September 19 and is available for pre-order now.
The origin of Green Bay Bob
Green Bay Bob was born Robert Fox. He was named after his uncle, a young man who died serving as a medic in the Korean War. Fox grew up in Milwaukee and originally attended UW-Oshkosh for college before transferring to UWMilwaukee – incidentally the alma mater of his namesake – where he majored in Mass Communication (the name has since been changed to Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies).
Fox cut his radio teeth at an internship with WTMJ, where he covered Milwaukee Brewers baseball. Later, he moved to Florida where he found work in sales for Xerox. Fox was a regular presence on Florida’s sports radio stations, where he earned his Green Bay Bob moniker. He gained a bit of fame: Fox laughs when he describes how his manager at Xerox once caught him on the phone with a radio station during work hours and dressed him down.
Later on, she and Fox were handed a potential sale with a prickly client, who seemed determined to avoid making a deal with their company.
“It turns out it’s a big sports radio guy. He said, ‘You sound familiar … You’re not Green Bay Bob, are you?’ I got the contract,” Fox recalled. “When I came back with that, (my manager) said to me, go ahead any time you want to call sports radio.”
Fox worked for various media outlets over the years, including the Packer Report and the Bleacher Report. Fox now runs his own website, where he posts articles focusing on Wisconsin sports teams.
And somewhere along the way, he met the man that was the focus of so many of his articles.
A football friendship
The year was 1991. Superbowl XXV was being played in Tampa. Many football legends were in the city to watch the game and attend festivities – like a golf outing. Fox knew that Jerry Kramer and some of the other Packers would be on the links.
“I had just written a letter to Packer Report about why Jerry Kramer deserved to be in the Hall of Fame. In between holes, I introduced myself to Jery and I showed him the letter,” Fox said. “He was really touched by it and said, ‘It’d be nice if I could get in one of these days.’ Little did we know that it wouldn’t happen for 27 years.”
But in those 27 years, Fox and Kramer formed a friendship. Fox said he admires Kramer’s dedication to his causes and to his fans –Kramer never turns a fan away and makes time for everyone who approaches him at publicity events.
All the while, Fox was advocating for Kramer’s induction into the Football Hall of Fame. He wrote more than 50 articles detailing Kramer’s accomplishments. He penned letters to league officials, asked for advice from football insiders, and solicited letters of support from former teammates. Fox estimates that 33 Hall of Fame players wrote letters in support of Kramer’s admission.
Finally in 2018, 44 years after he retired, Jerry Kramer was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
A winning book
Run to Win: My Packers Life from Lombardi to Canton grew out of the letters and articles that Fox wrote. He shopped the book around for almost three years before he signed a publishing deal with Triumph Books, the foremost sports publishing company in the country.
The book tells Kramer’s life story, starting from the time that he was drafted to the Packers in 1958. (“He had just come out of class at the University of Idaho. One of his classmates says, ‘You’re drafted by the Green Bay Packers.’ And Jerry goes, ‘Where’s Green Bay?’” Fox laughed.) The book covers Kramer’s years under Coach Lombardi, the team’s five championships in seven years, and their two Super Bowls.
There are also chapters detailing Kramer’s relationships and thoughts on his teammates, like Bart Starr, Willie Davis, Dave Robinson, and Donny Anderson. He and Fox also highlighted Kramer’s work with various causes and organizations, including the Boys and Girls Club, National Child ID kits, and Honor Flights with veterans.
There are some juicy tidbits too. “Jerry’s written four books, three of them bestsellers … but there are certain things in our book that he’s never written or never talked about before,” Fox teased – things like the story of how Kramer played a championship game with a detached retina.
“He says, to this day, he has very little sight in his left eye,” Fox said. “I never knew that in all of the years I’ve been talking to him.”
And if Fox can learn something new about Jerry Kramer as they wrote the book, readers will definitely learn something new as they read it.
Run to Win: My Packers Life from Lombardi to Canton is currently available for preorder at Amazon, Walmart, and other booksellers. The book will be released Sept. 19.