TJB Hall of Fame: Joe Klecko
The TJB Hall of Fame Inductees roll on with today’s entrant … it’s my honor to introduce today’s entrant: Joe Klecko.
Beyond his amazing physical gifts, his retired number (#73), his key role in the Jets Sack Exchange and the fact that he is the only player who ever was named to the Pro-Bowl at three different positions, there’s something in Joe Klecko that makes him immediately connect with regular people. I for one, think it’s the fact that in many ways, he’s just like us, and maybe in our minds, if not only for a few fateful twists and turns in his life he could have been one of us — as content to drive a truck for a living as he was at mauling opposing offensive lines.
Joe Klecko Jr. grew up in the working class suburb of Chester, PA to Polish immigrant parents amidst a proud Polish-American community. Like his father before him, Joe loved sports, but mostly stuck to pickup games to spend time on his first love, cars. Although he played football for St. James High School, his time on the field was far too short and he didn’t get any attention to play collegiately. At age 19, Klecko was working as a truck driver and playing semi-professional football with the Ashton Knights. Temple’s equipment manager and organizer of a semi-pro league Joe DiGregorio protected Klecko’s eligibility for college by giving him a pseudonym and college, Jim Jones from Poland University. DiGregorio, with the help of his family and future wife eventually coaxed Klecko to attend college and play for the Temple Owls, something he did reluctantly, not wanted to give up the money he’d already been earning since high school ended.
At Temple, Klecko played under coaching legend Wayne Hardin (the former Navy coach who guided two Heisman Trophy winners in Bellino ‘60 and Staubach ‘63) where he learned to take his physical gifts and apply them properly on the gridiron. Still Klecko wasn’t much sought after by the time he finished school and he went to the Jets in the sixth round of the 1977 draft.
Early on, Klecko was pegged to play Defensive Tackle, but due to his speed, they soon moved him to End. In his first season as an end, he was used mostly in strictly passing situations, but he still lead the league in sacks by a rookie with eight.
Klecko was known around the league as one of the strongest and toughest players. Seattle Center Blair Bush said of Klecko, that he and his teammates had a term they used for Klecko instead of bull rush “We [called] it, ‘The Klecko Skate,’ because when he hits you, it looks like your rolling backwards on skates. Even Hall of Famer Anthony Muñoz would later say that Klecko was the strongest defensive lineman he had ever faced.
Like the rest of Klecko’s life to that point, even though he was successful at whatever he did, it was always on his own timetable. It wasn’t until almost a third of the way into his career that he peaked, playing lights out football during the early 80s along with his fellow linemates, Marty Lyons, Mark Gastineau and Abdul Salaam in the fabled Sack Exchange. Of his time with the Exchange, Klecko would later say that “it was really neat that we were feared as much as we were, we were an awesome group. Mark and I were the catalysts, but without Marty and Abdul stuffing the run, we couldn’t have put the fear in the QB.” In 1981, Klecko made his first Pro-Bowl Selection at End, leading the league with 20.5 sacks — a stat that many suggest the 1981 Jets team was instrumental in ushering into the league, as the NFL officially acknowledged it by creating it in 1982. The following year of 1982 brought a ruptured patella which he worked back from, and after which he played Defensive Tackle where he continued his assault on offensive lines and quarterbacks alike.
In 1985, the Jets switched to a 3-4 alignment and Bud Carson asked Joe Klecko if he wanted to play the nose. Although it was his first time as a nose, Klecko had a large task ahead of him, but he was eager and up to the task. Klecko would line up shading the center and was strong enough to take on multiple interior players, but quick enough to move to either gap on run plays. Later, Klecko would say, “nobody ever played like I played it since I played it.”
Still gifted with the quickness of an end, Klecko would later say “my forte was quickness and it just carried over.” He led the Jets in tackles with 96 and forced fumbles with five and was second in sacks with 7.5 In Bud Carson’s defense. Joe’s unique abilites allowed him to control the game from the nose tackle position and he again earned All-Pro honors becoming the first defensive player to be named to the Pro Bowl for three separate positions (DE, DT, NT).
After a bitter loss to New England in the playoffs, the Jets started the 1986 season with an unstoppable 10-1 record, but a series of injuries set the team back. Klecko was having yet another fantastic season, but was injured and needed arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. After surgery, he worked hard to return to the field, but was re-injured in a late season game against Pittsburgh and could only watch as the team was knocked off in the divisional playoff by Cleveland in a double overtime game. Klecko returned in 1987 following major surgery for his final with the Jets, but struggled to overcome mounting injuries, ending his career with the Colts in 1988.
Joe Klecko’s career was just like his abilites, unique in every way and marching to the beat of his own drum. We’re sure that Joe would have made a fantastic truck driver or car mechanic, but his choice to play football instead was something that millions of people are grateful for and that his name will endure among the league’s all-time greats.
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Glad he is in our HOF. It is unfathomable that he is not enshrined in Canton.
It’s a joke that he never gets any consideration for Canton. If the Jets had won more he’d be in since the Hall voters favor players from championship teams (Dan Hampton, anyone?)
It’s a joke that guys like Hampton and Tippett — neither of who would ever be considered if you were compiling a list of the top 100 defensive players of all time — are in Canton, and Klecko is not. Really. It’s just mindboggling and honestly, a bit embarrassing for HOF as far as I’m concerned.
K O Klecko. Most inspirational player the Jets ever had. Just like Pete Rose — it doesn’t matter if they put him in the hall, any educated fan knows he belongs.
GREAT CHOICE! IS MARK GASTINEAU NEXT??
By the way Bassett, attached are the 57 players I think should be in your JETS HOF:
Pos Name
QB Joe Namath**
QB Ken O’Brien
RB Emerson Boozer
RB Bruce Harper
RB Johnny Hector
RB Curtis Martin
RB Freeman McNeil
RB John Riggins
C Joe Fields
C Kevin Mawae
C John Schmidt
C Jim Sweeney
OG Dan Alexander
OG Dave Herman
OG Randy Rasmussen
OG Dwayne White
OT Jumbo Elliott
OT Jason Fabini
OT Sherman Plunkett
OT Marvin Powell
OT Chris Ward
OT Winston Hill
TE Jerome Barkum
TE Richard Caster
TE Pete Lammons
TE Mickey Shuler
WR Wayne Chrebet
WR Keyshawn Johnson
WR Don Maynard
WR George Sauer, Jr.
WR Al Toon**
WR Wesley Walker
DE Verlon Biggs
DE Mark Gastineau
DE Gerry Philbin
DT John Elliott
DT Jason Ferguson
DT Joe Klecko**
DT Marty Lyons
LB Al Atkinson
LB Ralph Baker
LB Greg Buttle
LB Kyle Clifton
LB Larry Grantham
LB Marvin Jones
LB Mo Lewis
LB Lance Mehl
CB John Dockery
CB Aaron Glenn
CB James Hasty
CB Bobby Jackson
CB Johnny Lynn
S Victor Green
S Jim Hudson
S Ken Schroy
K Pat Leahy
K Jim Turner
It is a travesty that Klecko isn’t in the hall, but he played a good part of his career before the sack was an official statistic and that seems to the stat that most compels hall voters for D lineman. It didn’t help that the Jets didn’t enjoy much success during his playing days either. Any jet fan that enjoyed that era knows he belongs. One of my all time favorites I still wear the jersey with pride.
The Ed(itor) — Pat Leahy is the reason that the Jan. 83 AFC Championship game was played at the Orange Bowl and not at Shea — Leahy’s obscene number of missed extra points during the 82 regular season (including a 20-19 loss to the Dolphins) is the proximate cause that Don Shula even had the opportunity to allow the Mud Bowl to happen — He is the #1 reason why the Jets did not advance to Super Bowl XVII — No Pat Leahy in TJB (or any) Hall of Fame –
The late-70s and early-80s teams had great talent that was overlooked by the HOF, but the most mind-boggling omissions are Klecko and Marvin Powell. It’s not that these guys were just Jets greats, but when you start to name equals to these guys, you have to mention all-time greats. The HOF sucks; it’s a fraud. Look, I don’t expect my boyhood hero, old No. 99 to be in the HOF because of his personal and drug issues. But, again, it doesn’t mean that Gastineau wasn’t one of the best ever. As an old-time Raider-hater, it just sticks in my craw that Howie Long is in the HOF, but Klecko isn’t. And, while Long’s overall game was better than Gastineau’s, there wasn’t a GM that wouldn’t have preferred Gastineau to Long (nobody ever mentions how many career sacks Gastineau would’ve had if the team had not switched to the 3-4 and, still, Gastineau (107.5) had 16 more sacks than Long (91.5) in 3 fewer seasons). It’s all b-s.
Ed
Great list! A little lenient with some players, but I agree 90%.
Does Chris Ward get empathy votes for one of the top ten embarrassing moments a NYJ experienced on the field for having his head torn-off on national TV or or having the most holds in an NFL career?
Thanks The Ed. Your list gave me a real laugh with some of those names from the past. I would only suggest that you should be a little more selective. 57 may work for Heinz, but it doesn’t work for the Jets. But I’m sure Johnny Hector would thank you.
Ed, what, no Stan Blinka? Also, Matt Snell, Bill Baird (Jets career INT leader), Ray Mickens, Marvin Washington, and Richie Andersonl merit inclusion, but Snell and Baird are definites.
klecko is a stats era casualty. bassett hit the nail right on the head. he straddled the stats era. if he played 5 years earlier or 5 years later, he’d be in the hall.
the guy redefined his position and was THE dominant defensive player in the league for several years. i respect dr. z for pushing his cause for the HOF.
Joe must go! Joe must go! (to the hall).
I remember when he was in Cannonball Run and I was like “that’s Joe Klecko!” and nobody believed me, so I had to stay up and wait for the end credits. As a kid that was really exciting for me!
Ed…thanks for the list. We have considered all those guys and will again next year. But, Fabini…really?
Surely Nuu Faaola has to be on the list too.
My Heinz 57 list was to get Bassett thinking about JETS all time not just the JETS since he starting watching the games. I am not sure how I missed matt snell. Bill baird was also excellent. I may have been a little liberal (boy do I hate that word) in my list, but I wanted bassett to consider and reject a name rather than not considering a name at all.
Can’t wait to see the next name bassett selects.
Two very vivid images forever from that glorious time: 1) saw Klecko’s pants legs (both fronts) stained (the right leg down bellow the knee) with Huston Oiler Qb Ken Stablers blood at Shea stadium and 2) meeting him in person for the first time outside Giants stadium and beign mesmerized at how chizzled square and shinny his face and neck were. I swear he was made out of marble.
Fabini played very well both right and left tackle and also started some games for washington last year. I would also like to add to the list 2 of boomers body guards: Cadigan, and Criswell. One of my personal favorites but was here and gone to quick was Johnny Jhonson though closely fallowed by Adrian Murrell. Also, no Rob Moore?
There’s no question Klecko deserves NFL HOF enshrinement. People on the HOF selection committee would do well to listen to Dr. Z on linemen. He knows his stuff. Here’s my question, since the sack totals weren’t counted until halfway through his career, why can’t they review game film of the years before that to see how many sacks he has in those years by applying the standards they used in the 80s? Wouldn’t that make sense? Oh wait, that’s right, the HOF is voted on by REPORTERS who clearly have no agenda, right? Reporters don’t need to make sense because they have no oversight. Let the veterans decide…
Thanks, Ed. We’ve tried to mix it up with a lot of players from each era. Tune in later today to see who the last entrant in this year’s class is.
And rest assured that next year some of those names on your list will be honored!
Bassett:
There has never, Ever been a Jet player (maybe Joe Willie) to dominate his position AND the league like Joe Klecko. He would cause a fumble without tackling the guy ; I saw him swipe the ball (a couple of times) before center could snap the ball. He belongs right up there next to Namath as the alltime greats!