The New York Sack Exchange is a nickname given to the New York Jets

New York Jets

The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 defensive line of the early 1980s, consisting of Mark Gastineau

Mark Gastineau

Marcus Dell Gastineau is a former American football player who was a leading defensive end for the New York Jets from 1979 to 1988. A five-time Pro Bowler, his 100½ quarterback sacks in only his first 100 starts in the NFL made him one of the quickest and most feared pass rushers of his generation...

, Joe Klecko

Joe Klecko

Joseph Edward Klecko is a former American football player as a defensive lineman best remembered for his days as a member of the New York Jets' famed "New York Sack Exchange."-Temple University Owls:...

, Marty Lyons

Marty Lyons

Martin Anthony Lyons is a former American Football defensive tackle who played his entire eleven year career from 1979 to 1989 with the New York Jets of the National Football League...

 and Abdul Salaam.

Origins

In 1981, during a game at Shea Stadium

Shea Stadium

William A. Shea Municipal Stadium, usually shortened to Shea Stadium or just Shea , was a stadium in the New York City borough of Queens, in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park. It was the home baseball park of Major League Baseball's New York Mets from 1964 to 2008...

, a fan held up a bedsheet on which he had scrawled "New York Sack Exchange." Jets public relations director Frank Ramos used the nickname in a press release and it was soon picked up by the media.

All four members of the Sack Exchange were drafted by the Jets in the 1970's. Salaam, a defensive tackle, was drafted in the 7th round
(188th overall) by the Jets in 1976

1976 NFL Draft

The 1976 National Football League Draft was an annual player selection meeting held on April 8–April 9, 1976. It lasted 17 rounds, with the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks making the first two selections. The expansion teams were also given a pair of extra picks at the end of...

. Klecko, a defensive end

Defensive end

Defensive end is the name of a defensive position in the sport of American and Canadian football.This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations have substantially changed how the position is played over the years...

, was a 6th round pick (144th overall) in 1977

1977 NFL Draft

The 1977 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held May 3–4, 1977...

. Lyons, a defensive tackle, was a first round pick (14th overall) in 1979

1979 NFL Draft

The 1979 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held May 3–4, 1979...

, while Gastineau, a defensive end,
was selected with the Jets' second round selection in that draft (41st overall).

Success

In November 1981, Gastineau, Klecko, Salaam and Lyons were invited to ring the ceremonial opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange

New York Stock Exchange

The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...

, which served as the inspiration for their nickname. Gastineau and Klecko competed to see which defensive end could record
the most sacks

Quarterback sack

In American football and Canadian football, a sack occurs when the quarterback is tackled behind the line of scrimmage before he can throw a forward pass, or when the quarterback is tackled behind the line of scrimmage in the "pocket" and the intent of what he was going to do is unclear...

. In 1981, the Jets led the league with 66 sacks. The Jets reached the 1982 AFC Championship Game.

Salaam was traded after the 1983 season. However, Gastineau, Klecko, and Lyons continued to have success for several years, with Gastineau and Klecko making two more Pro Bowl

Pro Bowl

In professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game of the National Football League . Since the merger with the rival American Football League in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference against those...

s apiece. Lyons, the last active member of the Sack Exchange, retired after the 1990 season

1990 NFL season

The 1990 NFL season was the 71st regular season of the National Football League. To increase revenue, the league changed the regular season so that all NFL teams would play their 16-game schedule over a 17-week period...

.

Legacy

The Jets retired Klecko's #73 on December 26, 2004. A book that told the story of this era of the Jets, titled Sack Exchange: The Definitive Oral History of the 1980's New York Jets (by author Greg Prato), was released in September 2011 via ECW Press

ECW Press

ECW Press is a North American small press book publisher located in Toronto, Ontario. It was founded by Jack David and Robert Lecker in 1974 as a Canadian literary magazine named Essays on Canadian Writing. Five years later, ECW published its first books - trade and scholarly titles...

.