How good was Joe Klecko?

American retired football player Joseph Edward Klecko was born on October 15, 1953. Klecko was a star defensive lineman for the Temple Owls in college and a part of the renowned “New York Sack Exchange” for the New York Jets.

Before attending Temple and playing for Hall of Fame college coach Wayne Hardin (a former Navy coach who coached two Heisman Trophy winners, Joe Bellino in 1960 and Roger Staubach in 1963), Klecko played semi-pro football for the Aston (Pennsylvania) Knights of the Seaboard Football League and maintained his eligibility by playing under the assumed name “Jim Jones” from the fictitious “Poland University.”

How good was Joe Klecko?

Klecko was declared a member of the class of 2023 inductees to the National Football League Hall of Fame on February 9, 2023. Klecko was one of the two best inside linemen Dwight Stephenson, a hall of fame center, had ever faced, said of a “great defensive lineman.”
Joe Klecko was a powerful, gritty player who offered all for the team and would go above and beyond to help his side win. In the early 1980s, he was one of the hosts of the immensely popular “New York Sack Exchange,” and many offensive lineman dreaded him.