SANDPOINT — A proposal to honorarily append National Football League Hall of Fame inductee and former Sandpoint resident Jerry Kramer’s name to a five-block stretch of Ontario Street was stopped just short of the goal line on Wednesday.

Residents John Elsa and Helen Newton requested that the city add Kramer’s name to the section of street which fronts the high school gridiron where Kramer’s football legacy took root in the early 1950s as a Sandpoint High School Bulldog. They cited Kramer’s philanthropic contributions to causes here and nationally which aid veterans, cancer patients and the elderly, in addition to Kramer’s accolades as a University of Idaho Vandal and his career as a guard for the Vince Lombardi-era Green Bay Packers.

Elsa pointed out that Kramer participated in a fundraiser for the Sandpoint Area Seniors DayBreak Center which raised $30,000.

Moreover, the honorific would be added the Ontario Street’s name rather than supplant it, which would eliminate the headaches of renaming the route on hard copy and digital maps.

Elsa said many a football player’s career ends in high school, though a few are good enough to continue their athletic careers in college. Far fewer graduate onto NFL careers and only a select handful go on to attain Hall of Fame honors.

“Only 318 men in this country have made it into the Hall of Fame and one of them is from Sandpoint, Idaho. It’s quite an accomplishment,” said Elsa.

Dyno Whal, executive director of the Festival at Sandpoint and a neighbor of Kramer’s in-laws, supported the honor and recounted how Kramer picked up the spirits of neighborhood student athletes laboring under two-a-day practice regimens with his own experiences, which included two Super Bowl victories.

“He shaped those kids. Jerry had such a heart for service, such a heart for youth,” Wahl said.

Questions have been raised about creating a precedent by which others could cite to honor the noble and possibly ignoble, although Elsa pointed out that Kramer’s achievements on and off the field set a high bar. Moreover, Kramer was given the key to the city 55 years ago, when he was in the prime of his heralded NFL career.

In a prepared statement, Mayor Shelby Rognstad and the city acknowledged Kramer’s humanitarian and philanthropic contributions, in addition to his lauded professional career. Rognstad also noted that the city has never before been asked to name a street in someone’s honor.

“However, maybe now is a good time to start,” said Rognstad, who directed city staff to work with the city’s historic commission to draft a policy to process such requests.

Elsa is hoping for expediency, noting that Kramer is 82 and one of his former Packers teammate, Jim Taylor, died on Saturday.

“Let’s not make it a memorial to Jerry Kramer,” said Elsa.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.