Kramer Auctions Ring to Help Ex-Players

By JOHN HARTZELL Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

MILWAUKEE — Former Green Bay Packers star Jerry Kramer understands why some people would find it hard to believe there are needy retired NFL players.

With today's multimillion dollar salaries, many current players will never need help financially.

But Kramer, who played for Vince Lombardi's Packers from 1958 to 1968, said that's not the case for a number of those who played in his era.

Kramer, 70, who lives in Boise, Idaho, said he earned $8,000 in his first year in the league and got a $300 raise in the second year before his salary jumped to $9,000 annually when he was All-Pro in his third year. He eventually earned $27,000 to $28,000 a year before retiring.

Many players from his era began drawing pensions at age 45, he said, only to see them drop dramatically when they turned 62 and could start drawing Social Security. And a number are without private medical insurance, he said.

With that in mind, he put up for auction this week a replica of his ring from the first Super Bowl to raise money to help older former players. He had the ring made after the original disappeared 25 years ago _ only to resurface recently on an Internet auction.

"I have always felt great concern and frustration regarding the condition of some of the retired players who helped build the league," Kramer said when he announced he was putting the ring up for auction.

After the auction closed Friday night, Kramer said the final bid was $22,634, and the ring goes to a Green Bay man whose name wasn't immediately released.

"I'm pretty pleased with everything. It's been an amazing series of events for me, from the ring returning," he said.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said last week that those who played prior to 1959 were not originally in the NFL pension plan, although they were added years ago. The league spends $5 million a month on retirement and disability benefits for more than 2,500 players, he said.

Kramer said his pension dropped from $454 a month to $158 when he turned 62. He said the NFL also adds $200 per month for the single year he played prior to 1959.

Kramer's original Super Bowl ring disappeared in 1981 when he removed it to wash his hands on an airline flight.

The ring showed up last month in an auction on the Web site of Mastro Auctions Inc. of Burr Ridge, Ill. Kramer contacted Mastro after a former teammate's son told him about it. Mastro president Doug Allen then pulled the ring from auction.

Allen said he bought the ring from the person who had put it up for auction through his business, and turned it over to Kramer at no cost to the former player.

Kramer worked with Allen on the auctioning of the replica and said he intends to work with him to put together a much larger auction of NFL memorabilia later this year or early next year to raise more money for retired players.

Larger auctions like that could become an annual event, he said.

Kramer said a charitable trust will be created to hand out the money raised to needy players.

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