New York Jets legend Abdul Salaam dies aged 71
Former New York Jets defensive tackle Abdul Salaam died Tuesday after a battle with health problems, his widow Debbie said ESPN. Salaam was 71.
A key member of the Jets’ defensive line from 1976 to 1983, Salaam famously teamed up with Mark Gastineau, Hall of Famer Joe Klecko and Marty Lyons in the early 1980s to form the fearsome Sack Exchange.
“I feel like I lost my best friend,” Gastineau told ESPN. ‘If it wasn’t for Abdul, I wouldn’t have made it. He helped me through everything.”
“He was well respected in the locker room and loved by his teammates,” Lyons told ESPN. ‘His name said it all: Soldier of Peace. He was so gentle, but he was a big part of what we accomplished.”
Born Larry Faulk in Alabama in 1953, he would change his name to Abdul Salaam, meaning “Soldier of Peace,” in 1977 as he tried to bring more peace into his life.
Former New York Jets defensive tackle Abdul Salaam (near right) along with Mark Gastineau (right), Joe Klecko (far left) and Marty Lyons (near left) at the famous Sack Exchange
Former New York Jets defensive tackle Abdul Salaam died Tuesday after health problems
Joe Klecko, Marty Lyons, Abdul Salaam and Mark Gastineau, collectively known as The New York Jets’ famous “Sack Exchange,” work the floor of the American Stock Exchange after the opening bell to announce the upcoming National Football League season on August 29 to help start 2007.
In 1981, the former Kent State star helped return the Jets to the playoffs for the first time since 1969 when he and other members of the Sack Exchange recorded 66 quarterback takedowns that season.
“We made the adjustments and learned very quickly,” Salaam said on the Jets website in 2019. ‘That’s why we were successful. I went from defense to tackle and he had great help bringing in Marty and Mark.
“It was like a heavyweight fight. You had to be sloppy and know you were going to get hit. You had to stay on your feet and keep going. It was just a cold-blooded fight.”
That same season, Salaam, Gastineau, Klecko and Lyons were invited to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.
After retiring, Salaam returned to the Cincinnati area, where he had attended high school decades earlier.