Okay, full disclosure: I grew up a Packer fan during the Lombardi era. So, naturally I was interested in what happened to the Super Bowl I Champs. I've read all the books by Kramer & Schaap, and I enjoy their style. It's a pleasure to read with its inside look at what I think is the best football team, along with a heathy dose of humor and wit. It's quite remarkable how many of the Champs went onto become extremely successful in a variety of fields. And it seemed like they all attributed it to Vince Lombardi. I can only remember one guy who didn't like Lombardi, refusing to buy in. He was shipped off to another team. Kramer does a great job telling where these guys came from and of course what they were doing 18 years after Super Bowl I. I highly recommend this book.
I was fortunate to spend three days talking with Jerry Kramer during the 2025 NFL draft in Green Bay. It seemed like with everyone he met, he would tell a different story. Jerry is such a kind soul and seems to thoroughly enjoy retelling his Green Bay Packers stories.
I decided to reread both Instant Replay and Distant Replay. This book specifically is a quick, fun read. I love how he provides many profiles of all of the major players from Super Bowl I.
Growing up in Green Bay, it was fun to relive many memories and hear of old places such as Shenanigans bar and Cici‘s Mexican restaurant, for example.
As Lombardi said, “once you can accept second place, it’s too easy to accept third.“
I encourage everyone to read this book, including non-sports fans.
Tis is a story about the Packers glory team, 20 years into retirement. It is remarkable how many of the team wound up successful in life. However the book is ordinary and somewhat repetitious of the author's first book, Instant Replay. Hashing the hash, even of your favorite football team does not make for a great tale.
Not bad. I won this book some 35 years ago and finally got around to reading it. I wanted to read Instant Replay first, which I did a few days ago. Interesting to see what some of the players went on to do, most of them doing quite well.
A trip down nostalgia lane. The follow-up to Instant Replay re-introduces the great Packer Lombardi teams. It is an easy read that doesn't add much to the legend of the team.
It was interesting to read up on what happened to many of the subjects from Kramer's earlier (and far superior) book Instant Replay.
One thing that did bother me about Distant Replay was Kramer's obsession with how much money his former teammates had and were earning and how he felt it necessary to use this as a personal measuring stick. Making money is all well and good, but it rarely seems to equate to the character of an individual.
Distant Replay by Jerry Kramer (Jove Books 1987)(Biography). This is the sequel to Instant Replay, which I adored as a teen. This catches up with the players fifteen years or so later. Interesting mainly in that I learned that there were two Vols on the great Packer teams that won the first two Super Bowls – Bill Anderson (of "Voice of the Vols" fame with John Ward) and Henry Kyle. My rating: 6.5/10, finished 1991.
I read this book as a pre-teen and loved and am basing my rating on that. I have not re-read it as an adult and have no intention to do so. If you are looking for a good book for a teen or pre-teen that has almost no morally objectionable material and is inspirational then I would suggest this book.