Fred Cremer '67 didn't do a lot of talking on the football field.
In fact, his former teammates describe the Saint John's University All-American offensive and defensive lineman as the strong, but silent type.
"Oh, he was totally silent," recalls John Ford, a fellow member of the dominant defensive line that led the Johnnies to an NAIA national championship in 1965. "I remember one of the officials came up to him during a game and started making conversation. Fred just looked over at me, so I said 'Sir, you're going to need to talk to me.'
"I could tell from his eyes that the ref was thinking 'But you're not the guy who's been dominating everyone all afternoon.' That's true. Fred was. But he would stay quiet the entire game. I think it was just that he was so focused. He wanted to save all his energy for the job he was trying to do."
But if Cremer – who died at age 67 in 2012 – didn't talk much, his accomplishments spoke for him. The graduate of Aquin High School in Freeport, Ill. helped lead SJU to the first two national titles in program history – as a freshman who saw extensive action in 1963 and again as a junior two years later.
"St. John's tackle Fred Cremer can do the work of two men – and does," acclaimed sports writer Ira Berkow, then working for the
Minneapolis Tribune, wrote in 1966.
He was a three-year starter on both sides of the ball who earned All-MIAC and All-America honors in 1964, '65 and '66, and was named the outstanding lineman in the Johnnies' 33-0 win over Linfield (Ore.) in the 1965 NAIA national title game.
Cremer was later selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the 12th round of the 1967 NFL Draft, though he elected to pass on taking a shot at pro football in order to begin a teaching and coaching career that spanned well over 30 years.
"He was like a cat," said Joe Mucha '66, a 2021 inductee into the SJU J-Club Hall of Honor and, like Cremer, a starter both offensively and defensively on the 1965 national title team.
"He was so quick and fast on defense. And on offense, if you watch those films, we used to run a lot of a play we called 'The Fly.' We'd hook the linebacker or defensive end, whichever the other team had playing in that spot, but we wouldn't block the defensive tackle. Instead, Freddy would pull around the hook. The quarterback would then lateral the ball to the halfback who'd get on Freddy's hip. Freddy then took out whomever was in front of him.
"It was our bread-and-butter play and we gained so many yards with it."
But Cremer was never one to boast about his accomplishments, even to those with whom he was closest.
"I was always aware of Saint John's because he loved the school and was proud of his time there," said his only daughter Sarah (Cremer) Bell, herself a 1992 graduate of the College of Saint Benedict. "He'd talk about (former SJU head coach)
John Gagliardi and he'd talk about his teammates. But he never talked about his own achievements.
"It was only as I got older that I found out about the national championships and that he was drafted by the Vikings. How cool was that for a kid to hear that her Dad was an NFL draft pick?"
But instead of the NFL, Cremer headed for Lena, Illinois to take a teaching job. There he met his first wife Joann, who passed away in 2004. In 1970, he took a job as an English teacher at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Ill. where he remained until his retirement in 2000 – also coaching football, track and field and even golf over the years.
His 1994 boys golf team won the Class AA regional title.
"I asked him once why he never tried to give the NFL a shot and he said he had eight great years playing football in high school and in college," Bell said. "That was enough for him. He really wanted to teach and he really wanted to coach.
"He built up a great reputation (at Stevenson). I still hear from some of his old students today. A lot of my friends had him and thought he was great. He loved that he got to both teach and coach there, and the opportunities to do that only grew as the school got bigger over the years."
He remained in touch with many of his former teammates over the years, and they remember him both as a dominant force on the football field and a great friend in life.
"Freddy was very talented, but he also had such great football instincts," Mucha said. "He knew what was going to happen before it did. He had a real feel for the game."
"He was just a wonderful guy to be around," Ford said. "He loved making jokes. He was a bigger guy who could look kind of intimidating. But he was the kind of person who went out of his way to make sure everyone felt comfortable around him."
