Joe Klecko

Pro Football Hall of Famer and New York Jets star

Joe Klecko grew up in a blue-collar town near Philadelphia (Chester, Pennsylvania) and was a truck driver, boxer and semi-pro football player (under the name Jim Jones) before he began his collegiate career at Temple University.

Because of his strength and speed as a middle guard at Temple, he was selected by the New York Jets in the sixth round of the 1977 NFL draft. He led the league’s rookies that season with eight sacks. At 6-foot-3 and 265 pounds, was the first member of the “New York Sack Exchange”, a nickname given to the Jets fearsome defensive line in the early 1980s.

Klecko is one of the most dominant defensive linemen in the history of the NFL. His honors include being the 1981 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, being selected twice as a first-team All-Pro (1981, 1985) and was named to four Pro Bowls (at three different positions – defensive end, defensive tackle and nose guard) and retired with a total of 78 career sacks.
He played for the New York Jets for a decade before Injuries to both knees ended his career in 1988 after one season with the Indianapolis Colts.

Klecko was elected into the 2023 class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.