Kramer played college football for the Idaho Vandals before being selected by Green Bay in the fourth round of the 1958 NFL draft.

Kramer was an integral part of the famous Packers sweep, a signature play in which both guards rapidly pull out from their normal positions and lead-block for the halfbacks going around the end.

After graduating from Sandpoint High School in 1954,[5][6] he accepted a football scholarship to the University of Idaho in Moscow to play for new head coach Skip Stahley.

[8] Kramer was a standout two-way player for the Vandals,[9] along with teammate (and road roommate) Wayne Walker of Boise,[10] a future All-Pro linebacker with the Detroit Lions.

)[21] While at UI, Kramer was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity,[22] and also lettered in track and field (discus and shot put).

[24] Kramer played every game in his rookie season of 1958 under first-year head coach Ray "Scooter" McLean, but the Packers finished with the worst record (1–10–1) in the twelve-team league.

[36] On August 24, 2017, Kramer and Houston Oilers linebacker Robert Brazile were named as Seniors Committee finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame for 2018.

Kramer also did some broadcasting as a color commentator for CBS in 1969, and later for NBC - Week 2, with Chuck Thompson on the play-by-play, Miami Dolphins @ Buffalo Bills, on September 11, 1988.

The book climaxed with Kramer's lead block in front of Bart Starr to win the "Ice Bowl" championship game.

[49] After his wood fragment removal surgery in May 1965,[30][32][33] he reclaimed his starting position at right guard and the Packers won three straight NFL titles (and the first two Super Bowls) and he was a first-team All-Pro twice more.

Doctors cut the piece in two and pulled it out front and back; two weeks later, Kramer was at pre-season football practice at Sandpoint High School for his senior season.

He suffered broken bones, torn muscles, and nerve damage, which required plastic surgery and skin grafts.

After retirement from the NFL, Kramer lived on a ranch near Parma in southwestern Idaho with his second wife Wink,[50] then later moved to Boise.

[51] After turning eighty in early 2016, Kramer auctioned off several items of memorabilia to raise college funds for his grandchildren, including his ring from the first Super Bowl, which was sold for $125,000.