Time for JOE KLECKO to be in the Hall of FAME- NY Times -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By DAVE ANDERSON Published: November 7, 2008 The world is still whirling from the presidential election, but at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the voting process has just begun. The 44 members of the selection committee are reducing the preliminary list of 133 modern-era candidates to 25, from which 15 will emerge for the Jan. 31 ballot that will determine the 2009 induction class. And if enough of those 44 selectors finally do the right thing, Joe Klecko will get what he has long deserved, a bronze bust in the Canton, Ohio, pantheon. Klecko, a Jets defensive lineman feared by opponents and cherished by his coaches and teammates, has been shamefully ignored in the Hall of Fame voting for more than a decade. At a muscle-bulging 6 feet 3 inches and 270 pounds during his 12 seasons, from 1977 to 1988, Klecko is the only player to go to the Pro Bowl at three different positions: defensive end and defensive tackle in a 4-3 alignment, and nose tackle in a 3-4 alignment. And if it takes a Hall of Fame offensive lineman to know a Hall of Fame defensive lineman, Anthony Mu?oz and Joe DeLamielleure would know. ?In my 13 seasons,? Mu?oz said in a telephone interview, ?Joe is right there at the top of the defensive ends I had to block, up there with Fred Dean, Lee Roy Selmon and Bruce Smith.? Mu?oz, an All-Pro for 11 consecutive seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals, is in the Hall of Fame. So are Dean and Selmon, and Smith will be. The defensive pride of the Buffalo Bills despite four Super Bowl losses, Smith looms as a first-ballot choice in the pre-Super Bowl XLIII meeting in Tampa, Fla. ?Joe was the strongest guy I ever faced,? Mu?oz said. ?He had perfect technique ? hands in tight, great leverage. My second year, 1981, we went to Shea and beat the Jets, 31-30, but he was such an intense, smart player, I knew I was in a battle. He was the leader, the guy who kept that unit together.? ? That defensive unit was known as the Sack Exchange: Mark Gastineau at left end, Abdul Salaam at left tackle, Marty Lyons at right tackle, Klecko at right end. Of the four, Gastineau, who popularized the sack dance after leveling a quarterback, created the most headlines and highlights, but he was never considered a complete player because he neglected his responsibility against the run. To the Jets and to their opponents, Klecko was the man. ?Joe had a certain standard he played by and lived by,? said Lyons, the Jets? longtime radio analyst. ?To be the best, the strongest, the best prepared.? And to think of team first. When the Jets planned to market Klecko and Gastineau as a twosome for all their quarterback sacks, Klecko objected. ?Joe told them, ?It?s not just Mark and me, it?s the four of us,? ? Lyons recalled, meaning Klecko was also including him and Salaam. ?Joe told them, ?If you?re going to market the four of us, O.K., but if you?re only going to market two of us, no.? ? That?s why the Sack Exchange was a foursome, not a twosome. But those Jets teams never made it to the Super Bowl stage, another reason Klecko?s candidacy has remained in the Hall of Fame shadows. Locally, though, his No. 73, which the Jets retired in 2004, is on display at Giants Stadium next to Joe Namath?s No. 12 and Don Maynard?s No. 13. Namath and Maynard are the only career Jets, along with Coach Weeb Ewbank, in the Hall of Fame, but Klecko belongs there, too. ?You can?t think of his 10-year period without him,? DeLamielleure, a Hall of Fame guard for the Bills and the Cleveland Browns, said in a telephone interview. ?I had to block Joe Greene and Merlin Olsen when I was playing and, believe me, Joe Klecko was equal to those two guys.? Greene, a pillar of the Pittsburgh Steelers? defense in four Super Bowl victories, and Olsen, a member of the Los Angeles Rams? Fearsome Foursome, are considered two of the Hall of Fame?s legendary defensive tackles. ?If Joe Klecko had played one position for 10 years, he?d have been considered one of the top two or three players at that position, whichever one it was,? DeLamielleure said. ?There?s not another player who went to the Pro Bowl at three different positions. You take a defensive end and put him at nose tackle and he?s just as good there, that?s a great player. We need to get Joe Klecko in the Hall of Fame.? Coincidentally, Klecko was in Canton this year to speak at the N.F.L. rookies? indoctrination seminar. ?My favorite four-letter word,? he told them, ?is prepare.? He meant to say ?work,? of course, but he could be excused for meaning to say, and being worthy of, either ?Hall? or ?Fame.? If not both.
It would be nice if he gets on the ballot. The selection comittee has never even done that before. Without getting on the ballot you have no chance of getting in.
So the QB named Namath popularized the game, a position and essentially brought two leagues together and was a pioneer ahead of his time in the NFL, and Gastineau is responsible for every goofy move we see after a sack...... The Jets greats were ahead of their time - this needs to be known by all.
I heard on one of those SNY Jets shows that the 2008 Jets actually have more sacks at the midway point of the season than the Sack Exchange team! Is that possible? We need a new nickname for this defense.
guys lets not forget WINSTON HILL. he was an excellent OT and was Namath's primary bodyguard. he was a monster for his time and was an 8 time all-pro.
Klecko was a great player as was Hill. Problem is there were a lots of great OL and DL men in the NFL. You look at the game and their are more DL and OL men who start in the NFL than any other position and most of them toil in relative obscurity. The memories that are embedded in our mind are of the great plays made by playmakers. If you weren't a member of a dominant team that got a lot of national attention, it's not easy to get voted onto the HOF. Klecko and Hill aren't going in, its not a travesty there are plenty of greats and near greats who barely get considered. I can make a stronger argument for Hill who dominated for years and if you watch the biggest game the SB Hill was probably the best player on the field that day in a game filled with HOF players on both sides of the ball.
Klecko is probably my favorite Jet of all time, so maybe I'm predjudiced here, but I absolutely believe he belongs in the HoF. He was All-Pro at every position they put him at and one of the strongest players I've ever seen. I still kinda remember a quote from Walt Michaels following a win: "Whenever we needed a really big play, Klecko just picked up (______...can't remember the lineman's name) and threw him into the QB". Having watched the game I laughed, because it really was true! I think the quote from DeLamielleure says a lot. Who could be a more credible source than a HoF'er who played against him year after year?
Blair Bush, I think it was, was an All-Pro center for Seattle and I was at a game in 1985 where Klecko destroyed him all day long. Not the guy you're talking about though, Walton was the coach by 85.
Klecko, Hill, and Philbin are the three former Jets who deserve to be in the HoF but probably never will be. Martin will get in, I'm sure, and Mawae has a shot, but that's it for the foreseeable future (Favre doesn't count).
As a kid back in the day, the sack exchange was "must see". Gastineau won't be elected to the Boxing Hall of Fame any time soon...
