The Ice Bowl has been part of the Green Bay Packers fabric for more than five decades. Mention the name Bart Starr or Jerry Kramer, and it won't take long before the Ice Bowl gets brought up — Starr for the legendary sneak that helped Green Bay beat the Dallas Cowboys and pave a path to Super Bowl II and Kramer for throwing the block that made it possible.

But should Ken Bowman get more credit for that moment in time, taking place Dec. 31, 1967, now 56 years ago?

Bowman, whose death at 81 was reported early in 2024, was a 25-year-old center out of the University of Wisconsin playing for the Packers that season, his fourth year with Green Bay.

Speaking to Gary D'Amato in 2017 for an oral history of the Ice Bowl, which ended with Starr's sneak into the end zone for a 21-17 win in the coldest game in NFL history, Bowman said he found it curious that most of the glory for the block went to Kramer and wasn't shared by both of them. Kramer and Bowman both had a hand in pushing back Cowboys defensive tackle Jethro Pugh, creating space for Starr to burrow into the end zone.

“I came in after the game and basically my toes were all white and frostbit," Bowman recalled. "Domenic Gentile, our trainer, he had me and (Ray) Nitschke put our feet in ice water. That’s the way they treated it. It took about 45 minutes and by the time I got out of the training room, and had my toes all nice and pink again, the place had pretty much cleared out. But I heard Jerry got up on the podium and took the bows.

“I remember Lombardi calling Jerry to the podium before I went into the training room. He passed my locker as I’m getting undressed and I told him, ‘Don’t forget to tell them it was a double-team.’ I didn’t think I had to remind him. He said, ‘You’ve got 10 more years to make another block like that. Let an old guy get the glory.’ I guess that’s what he did. He took the credit in his book, ‘Instant Replay.’ Somebody interviewed Jethro and he actually said I got a better block on him than Jerry. I didn’t write a book. Jerry did.”

Kramer's perspective was a little different.

“You know, I’ve watched that play 1,000 times," Kramer said, "and I can’t see Kenny make contact. I got into Jethro and I moved him back. Kenny may have hit his elbow, but I can’t tell. But I know that I got into Jethro’s chest with my head up and my legs moving. Jethro was going to do one thing: he was going to move backwards. If Kenny had gone out and gotten a hot dog, the same thing would have happened. There’s no pride of ownership here. That’s just the way it was.”

In the chaos of the play, it's easy to understand confusion around who's doing the work. Photos show Starr behind both men as he churned through the space just right of center with 13 seconds remaining on the clock.

It does appear both Bowman and Kramer make contact with Pugh, but it's not clear who delivered the greater force.

Former team historian Lee Remmel offered this perspective in a 2007 interview with Packer Plus on the famous block.

"Looking back from 40 year's perspective, I think there's quite enough for both of them to share," Remmel said. "I don't think there's any reason to diminish one's role or the other's."

Bowman, who remained with the Packers until 1973, was also vice president of the NFL players' union.

Pugh, who died in 2015, shared a similar plight to Bowman in that he was overshadowed by temmates Bob Lilly and Randy White, despite 14 years as a Cowboy, 95 sacks and two Super bowl rings.

In Pugh's obituary, college classmate Claudie Mackey also noted that two players deserved the credit, not one.

"I hope they tell the real story," Mackey said. "It wasn’t a one-on-one situation.”

Said Bowman in 2017: “I talked to Jethro about 20 years ago and I told him, ‘You had 13 years with the Cowboys and it’s a damned shame the only play they’re going to remember you for is the Ice Bowl play.’ I tried to give him some kudos and tell him he was a great player. I told him, ‘The one thing that always bothered me, I couldn’t believe when I came off the ball how high you were.’ I came off the ball and all I saw was ribcage. I’m licking my chops. Jethro said, ‘When you guys called that timeout and Bart went over to the sideline, Tom Landry told us the only thing that made sense was Bart was going to call a quick slant and if it wasn’t there, he was going to throw it away and play for overtime.’ I don’t know how truthful that was, but Jethro’s excuse for being high was he was going to pass rush.”

Bowman said he felt Kramer nearly gave away the play by digging a divot with his foot as he got into his stance, something Kramer said provided the traction he needed to make the block. Bob Skoronski, by comparison, slipped at left tackle and fell to the ground on the sneak.

“We broke the huddle and Jerry was out there trying to dig a trench. I’ve often thought that was a mistake," Bowman said. "(The defense) has got the upper hand if they know it’s a pass play or a run. And you don’t try to dig a trench if you’re pass-blocking. I’ve always thought that almost gave it away.”

More: Did John Kuhn throw the second-most famous block in Packers history?

Kramer, who was 31 at the time in his second-to-last NFL season, was named All-Pro in 1967 for the third time in his career. Bowman, meanwhile, never made a Pro Bowl in his career.

After a long wait, Kramer was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Does Ken Bowman deserve more credit for legendary Packers Ice Bowl?