NFL
By: Greg Rector
Joe Klecko has just finished his Pro Football Hall Of Fame speech at Canton, Ohio. The former New York Jet was rightfully put in with his peers and deservedly so. Now many who know me might be surprised that I am not writing about Demarcus Ware also getting inducted today.
An incredible J-E-T-S chant during Joe Klecko's Hall of Fame speech 🔊
(via @NFL) pic.twitter.com/7ftmtxyrcL
— Jets Videos (@snyjets) August 5, 2023
I am no fan of the J-E-T-S chant today I was right there with them with the #TakeFlight fans. The reason is simple enough the former Temple Owl Joe Klecko was the best part of the infamous New York Jets “New York Sack Exchange” with Mark Gastineau Marty Lyons along with Abdul Salaam.
Joe Klecko’s NFL Career
Joe Klecko was simply put one of the finest defensive linemen I have ever seen play the game. He was selected three times at three different positions for the Pro Bowl. Klecko is the only defensive player to ever do that in the history of the NFL (Frank Gifford is the only person on offense).
1981 was the season I recall the most in Joe Klecko’s NFL career. He led the Jets with 20.5 sacks as he was playing defensive end. It was a remarkable season to witness weekly Joe Klecko dominate offensive lines and make his way to opposing quarterbacks. The “New York Sack Exchange” combined for 66 sacks so Klecko’s 20.5 sacks were highly impressive, to say the least.
That was the first time since the New York Jets won the Super Bowl that the Jets had made the NFL playoffs.
The 1982 season was the one that derailed Joe Klecko’s career and might be the reason he waited 35 years to finally be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He suffered a ruptured patella tendon in his right knee and only played in two regular season games.
In 1983 and 1984 he was moved to defensive tackle and in both seasons he was a Pro Bowl player yet again. Considering the knee injury he was yet again remarkable and played so tough in so many games.
It was in the 1985 season that he was yet again forced to play another position as the New York Jets switched to a 3-4 defense and yet again Joe Klecko was named to the Pro Bowl at his now third position having played nose tackle.
The 1986 and 1987 seasons were basically destroyed by another knee surgery which saw Klecko limited to playing in just seven games in the 1987 season. Joe Klecko was released by the Jets and ended his career after playing for the Indianapolis Colts. Joe Klecko retired after that season from the NFL due to his chronic knee issues.
No Idea Why It Took 35 Years
The waiting period for the Pro Football Hall of Fame is five seasons after retirement. If you watched Joe Klecko play in those games over his ten-year career you witnessed a man who personified what being a defensive lineman was all about.
Now I am not comparing Terrell Davis or others who have been inducted after injuries shortened their careers and who were inducted much sooner than Joe Kelcko was.
The contemporaries Joe Klecko faced on the field like Hall of Fame center Dwight Stevenson said that Joe Klecko was a “great a defensive lineman: he ever faced and said he was one of the two best interior linemen he ever faced.
Anthony Munoz said about Joe Klecko ” In my 13 seasons, Klecko is right up there with all the defensive ends I ever had to block. up there with Fred Dean, Leroy Selmon, and Bruce Smith.
When two of the best ever at their offensive line positions both say such things about Joe Klecko that was a guarantee when Joe Klecko was finally inducted today it was so richly deserving.
That’s why today I celebrated as Joe Klecko was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and I chanted J-E-T-S!!
