Former New York Jets defensive tackle Abdul Salaam died Tuesday after battling health problems, his widow Debbie said. ESPN. Salaam was 71 years old.
A key member of the Jets’ defensive line from 1976 to 1983, Salaam teamed with Mark Gastineau, Hall of Famer Joe Klecko and Marty Lyons to form the fearsome Sack Exchange in the early 1980s.
“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 with everything.’
“He was very respected in the locker room, loved by his teammates,” Lyons told ESPN. ‘His name said it all: Soldier of Peace. “He was very soft-spoken, 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 sought to bring more serenity into his life.
Former New York Jets defensive tackle Abdul Salaam (far right) teamed up with Mark Gastineau (right), Joe Klecko (far left) and Marty Lyons (far left) in the famous Sack Exchange.
Former New York Jets defensive tackle Abdul Salaam died Tuesday due to health issues.
Joe Klecko, Marty Lyons, Abdul Salaam and Mark Gastineau, known collectively as the New York Jets’ famous ‘Sack Exchange’, work the floor of the American Stock Exchange after the opening bell to help kick off the next season of the National Football League on August 29, 2007.
In 1981, the former Kent State star helped lead the Jets back to the playoffs for the first time since 1969 when he combined with other members of the Sack Exchange to record 66 quarterback takedowns that season.
“We made the adjustments and learned very quickly,” Salaam told the Jets website in 2019. “That’s why we were successful.” I went from defensive end to tackle and he had a lot of help bringing in Marty and Mark.
‘It was like a heavyweight fight. You had to be brave and know that they were going to hit you. You had to stay on your feet and keep going. It was simply 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.
When he retired, Salaam returned to the Cincinnati area, where he had attended high school decades earlier.