HOFer Klecko "learned the knocks" from Scranton, semi-pro days
Mar. 10—PLAINS TWP. — Understand, Joe Klecko went places.
He starred on the gridiron at Temple University, becoming one of the most feared defensive ends in college football in the mid-1970s. He became one of the most influential players in the NFL in the 1980s, practically redefining what it meant do be a star on the defensive side of the ball during his time with Mark Gastineau and the New York Jets' famed Sack Exchange. And this summer, finally, he'll go to Canton, Ohio, where he'll be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, honoring a career that saw him pile up 78 sacks and earn the respect of the top offensive linemen of his era.
On days like Thursday though, it's good even for a guy as accomplished as Klecko to remember the places he has been. Or, more accurately, the places he wasn't supposed to be. And, the ones he made up, altogether.
The Jets legend spent Thursday at Mohegan Sun Pennsylvania, where he received the Legends Award from the Maxwell Football Club during its annual awards gala. The award is presented to a player for "memorable contributions to the game of football," and for Klecko, there weren't many of his great contributions that managed to surpass the season of semi-pro football he played in the Seaboard Football League, when he came to Scranton as a somewhat hated rival.
"I remember more, probably, from my Aston Knights days than I do my time in the NFL, because they were unique and new," Klecko said with a smile.
The Aston Knights were one of the top teams in the semi-pro Seaboard Football League, which hung around from 1971-74 and featured the Lackawanna County Eagles, the franchise that became a fixture on the local sports scene for decades. While the Eagles and Knights certainly had their share of run-ins, few who were around to see those games might remember seeing the young Joe Klecko just getting his start on the way to Canton.
That's because Klecko played those games under an assumed name. He wasn't the kid who had no college offers and grew three inches after his playing days at the St. James High School for Boys just outside of Philadelphia. On the roster, he was Jim Jones, a 6-foot-3 tackle from Poland University, a name and school he made up so it wouldn't affect his eligibility on the off chance a college program someday wanted him.
Turned out, one did. The Knights and Temple shared an equipment manager, who told then-Owls head coach Wayne Hardin "there's a kid out there playing semi-pro football who is better than anybody on your football team." Hardin watched one quarter of Aston Knights football, then offered Klecko a scholarship.
So began a Hall of Fame career, and Klecko gives no small amount of the credit for that to his experiences playing against those hard-nosed Lackawanna County Eagles teams.
I remember I was having such a good game that the guard and the center, they wanted to get me out of the game, so they high-lowed me. On purpose. I figured that out. I waited for them to do that the next time, and neither of them touched me. I sacked the quarterback. Then I said, 'That didn't work real well, did it?' So, I learned a little bit there.
"It was a mean world. You learned the knocks from the semi-pro league."
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