He Drove a Dump Truck

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In today’s edition…

When his friends were off at college, he was driving a dump truck.

But a tryout for a semi-pro football team changed everything.

And if it weren’t for a split-second decision by his wife, he wouldn’t be wearing a gold jacket today.

Let’s dive in 👇

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The Wild Path That Took Joe Klecko From Driving a Dump Truck to Leading the NFL in Sacks

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“What really makes this satisfying is knowing nobody ever gave me anything.”

“I mean everything I got, I’ve earned.”

Born in Chester, PA, Joseph Edward Klecko Jr. is the third of Joseph and Josephine Klecko’s four children.

He grew up in a blue-collar, working-class community where dreams were earned through sweat and determination, not handed out like Halloween candy.

His path from a high school truck driver to the legendary football museum in Canton, Ohio, is one of the most remarkable – and overlooked – underdog tales in all of sports. 

As a youngster growing up around steel mills and manufacturing plants that defined a culture of hard work and persistence, Klecko learned at an early age that nothing was going to be handed to him.

Unlike many future pros, he didn’t start his high school football career until his senior season at St. James Catholic High School for Boys, where he played under coach Joe Logue.

While he'd tried out for the freshman team, he was turned off by the rough and tough style that Logue had with his team.

Rather than sticking with it, Klecko balanced his school schedule with a blue-collar construction job.

Making a name for himself as part of a construction crew and a dump truck driver, Klecko’s blue-collar work ethic would eventually serve him well as a professional football player.

But those days were still years away.

Once again trying out for the school’s football team as a senior, Klecko made the cut, this time committing with his decision to join the team despite Logue’s militant approach.

Despite his strength, size, and work ethic, the unpolished Klecko did not attract any interest from college teams.

So it was back to the grind, working for a trucking company, loading orders and making deliveries while his former teammates and peers headed off to college.

Although he was making upwards of $1,000 per week, his football dreams were not laid to rest.

“I was a year out of high school, driving a dump truck for a living,” Klecko said. “...driving the big rigs, and I realized then I wanted an easier way to make a living.”

One day, a friend invited him to try out for the Aston Knights of the Seaboard Football League, a semi-pro league that housed just eight teams and lasted only four seasons.

“When we pulled up [to the tryout], I got cold feet,” he said.

“I made a few excuses to Debbie about not trying, and when she suddenly grabbed my keys out of the ignition and threw them out the window, I said, ‘What the heck did you do that for?’”  

“Needless to say, when I went out to try and get the keys, the guys saw me, they said, ‘Joe, c’mon over.’  I tried out for the team and I made it.  But if it wasn’t for Debbie making me get out of my car, I wouldn’t be sitting here today wearing this gold jacket.”

Semi-pro football in the 1970s was far from glamorous.

As a member of the Aston Knights, Klecko played on less than adequate fields in front of sparse crowds.

Most players worked day jobs to support themselves, with some of them playing a rough and dirty style that Joe had never seen before.

“If a guy missed a block, he’d roll over and snap at a passing leg,” Klecko said.

“We were playing the Hagerstown Bears, and I had been beating my man on the pass rush every time. Finally, he hauled off and kicked me in the groin. It almost killed me.” 

But at the end of the day, he was still playing football against real competition and improving his skillset.

To keep his eligibility intact in the off chance he’d eventually play college football, Klecko did not accept any payment for playing with the Knights and suited up under the alias “Jim Jones” from “Poland University”.

Fortunately for him, John DiGregorio, the equipment manager for Temple University’s football team, came across the defensive tackle during one of the Knights’ games.

He told head coach Wayne Hardin there was a kid “playing sandlot football that’s better than anybody on your football team.”

It didn’t take long for the Hall of Fame coach to recognize Klecko’s passion and talent, offering a scholarship after seeing him play just one quarter of football.

Klecko led the Owls in tackles for his final three years with the team, earning both All-East and All-American honors in the process.

But it wasn’t just on the gridiron that he knocked his opponents down; he also did it in the boxing ring.

During his sophomore and junior years, he joined Temple’s boxing club (there was no official NCAA team at this time) and found himself training at none other than Joe Frazier’s gym.

Posting a 25-2 record, Klecko helped the Owls win a pair of national club titles in the heavyweight division.

“Joe Klecko was the Mike Tyson of college boxing in those days,” noted West Chester University heavyweight Bruce Blair, the only fighter to defeat Klecko.

The boxing experience extended beyond the squared circle as the sport taught him hand-eye coordination, footwork, leverage skills, and a mental toughness that would translate to succeeding on the defensive line.

After getting punched in the face by a heavyweight boxer, going toe-to-toe with hulking offensive linemen wasn’t so intimidating.

So after graduation, Klecko – a former raw athlete turned polished defensive machine – declared for the 1977 NFL Draft, in which he was selected in the sixth round by the New York Jets.

As the 144th overall pick, there wasn’t much expected from him. But that didn’t stop him from performing beyond expectations.

“He wasn’t coming out of a big-time football school,” said AP pro football writer Barry Wilner.

“He wasn’t a big name coming out. To become a starter and then become a star is a huge challenge.”

With a history of being underestimated and finding a way to turn it into success through hard work, Klecko once again set out to prove people wrong. 

“Being drafted in the sixth round was, to me, a knock,” Klecko said. “I made my mind up at that time that I’m gonna give this my best effort.”

Recording eight sacks in his rookie season, which at that time was almost unheard of by a first-year player, Klecko became a force to be reckoned with for the Jets.

A few seasons later, he teamed up with Mark Gastineau, Marty Lyons, and Abdul Salaam to form the “New York Sack Exchange”.

During the 1981 season, the quartet teammed up for a staggering 66 sacks, terrorizing opposing quarterbacks league-wide.

As Salaam put it, “What was created here was this system of defeating opponents by the sack. That is how we functioned. We would stop the run, put them in a second-and-long, third-and-long, and that would change the attitude of the offense.”

Individually, Klecko’s season was a masterpiece.

He recorded a career high 20.5 sacks as a defensive end, earning a trip to the first of four Pro Bowls, being selected as an All-Pro, and ultimately finishing second in the battle for the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award, losing out to Lawrence Taylor.

“They’re throwing the ball a lot more now…so that [20.5 sacks] number is even more impressive in 1981 than it would be now,” said Howie Long.

The following season, one that was shortened to nine games due to a players' strike, the Jets advanced to the AFC Championship game.

Ironically, this would be the furthest Klecko advanced into the postseason during his NFL career.

After rupturing his patella tendon during the second game of the regular season, Klecko returned to help the Jets knock off the Cincinnati Bengals and the LA Raiders before falling to the Miami Dolphins in the infamous “Mud Bowl”.

What made Klecko even more valuable to the Jets' defensive unit was his ability to play multiple positions without losing any impact.

Shifting between defensive end (1979), tackle (1981), and nose tackle (1985), Klecko became the first (and only) player to be named to the Pro Bowl at three positions, bulldozing through the opposition with a mix of force and finesse.

“The key thing about Joe was he never, ever quit,” said Hall of Fame offensive lineman John Hannah.

“He was one of the blue-collar guys of football…he just kept coming, kept coming, kept coming. You could never take a break from Joe.”

Yet despite all of his individual accomplishments and success, Klecko’s career seemed to have flown under the radar when it comes to all-time NFL greats.

Even his own linemate, Gastineau, got more attention, thanks in large part to his flashy game.

Unfortunately, the lack of pizzaz and highlights seemed to be the downfall for a player who just showed up, did the dirty work, and went home.

It took 35 years for the NFL to recognize and honor his greatness, enshrining him into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of the 2023 class.

"I wanted to be remembered as a player who gave it his all," Klecko said in his Hall of Fame enshrinement speech.

"I wanted to win every down and every battle. I always felt that if you’re not mad at yourself if you lost one battle, you didn’t belong on the football field. And if you did lose one, what were you going to do to never lose that battle again?"

🐶 

This story was written by Steve Lee. If you enjoyed it, consider sharing the link with a friend: https://jokermag.com/joe-klecko-nfl-story/

Or check out these other related stories:

• How a Division III Player Broke the Mold on His Path to Becoming an NFL All-Pro

• Jeremiah Pharms Jr. Played for 3 Colleges & 2 Pro Teams That No Longer Exist on His Way to the NFL

As always, thanks for reading.

Have a great 4th of July! 🇺🇸 

Til next time,
Tyler

Extra Innings…

🌟 Trivia Answer: B) 14 – Have you noticed that offensive stats are down this season? Here’s an interesting look at how the baseballs have changed (again) this year.

🎮 A's shortstop Jacob Wilson revealed his secret to batting over .300 as a rookie – and parents won’t be happy.

⚾️ In case you missed it: I made a video about the real-life Waterboy.

🏖️ Another summer read I enjoyed: Lullaby Town by Robert Crais. I wish I could go back and read this for the first time again.