Martin Anthony Lyons (born January 15, 1957) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle and defensive end for 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) during the 1970s and 1980s. Lyons played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide, earning consensus All-American honors. Selected in the first round of the 1979 NFL draft, he played his entire professional career for the NFL's New York Jets. He was a member of the Jets' famed "New York Sack Exchange," the team's dominant front four in 1981 and 1982 that also featured Mark Gastineau, Abdul Salaam and Joe Klecko. Following his playing career, he spent 22 years as a radio analyst for the Jets from 2002 to 2023.
_(cropped).jpg) Lyons in 2023 | |||||||||||
| No. 93 | |||||||||||
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| Position: | Defensive tackle, Defensive end | ||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||
| Born: | January 15, 1957 Takoma Park, Maryland, U.S. | ||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | ||||||||||
| Weight: | 269 lb (122 kg) | ||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||
| High school: | St. Petersburg Catholic (St. Petersburg, Florida) | ||||||||||
| College: | Alabama | ||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1979 / round: 1 / pick: 14 | ||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||
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Early years
editLyons grew up in Pinellas Park, Florida and attended St. Petersburg Catholic High School.
College career
editLyons attended the University of Alabama, where he played for coach Bear Bryant's Alabama Crimson Tide football team from 1975 to 1978. At Alabama, he had 202 tackles, 6 fumbles forced and 4 recovered. As a senior in 1978, he was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American, and helped lead the Crimson Tide to a National Championship in 1978. He was a key player in the set of fourth quarter plays known as "The Goal Line Stand" in the 1979 Sugar Bowl. It was Lyons that delivered what would become a famous line amongst Alabama fans just before the fourth-down play of the sequence. When asked by Penn State quarterback Chuck Fusina how far the ball was from the goal line, Lyons replied, "'Bout a foot. You better pass."[1] Alabama was 31-5 during his years as a player.
Professional career
editLyons was drafted by the New York Jets in the first round (14th overall pick) of the 1979 NFL Draft. The following round, the Jets selected East Central Oklahoma State defensive end Mark Gastineau.
The two joined Joe Klecko and Abdul Salaam on the Jets' defensive line to form one of the top defensive lines in the NFL, known as the "New York Sack Exchange." The four combined for 66 sacks in 1981 which helped propel the Jets to their first playoff berth since 1969. In November 1981, Salaam, Gastineau, Klecko and Lyons were invited to ring the ceremonial opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange that served as the inspiration for their nickname.[2]
The Jets made the playoffs again in 1982, 1985, and 1986 during Lyons' tenure with the team. In 1982, they made it as far as the AFC Championship Game, losing 14–0 to the Miami Dolphins.
Lyons was involved in one of the best-known plays in NFL lore. During the Jets' 14–13 victory over the Buffalo Bills at the Meadowlands on October 5, 1986, Lyons attempted to sack Buffalo quarterback Jim Kelly and then started to punch him repeatedly after the ball was thrown for an incompletion. Lyons was flagged for a personal foul by referee Ben Dreith for "giving him the business." Dreith mistakenly assessed the foul against number 99, which was Gastineau's number, instead of calling Lyons' number 93.[3]
Lyons missed playing time during the 1987 season when his wife, Kelly, and son, Martin Anthony "Rocky" Lyons Jr., were involved in a serious traffic accident in Alabama.[4] Later the same season, during a Monday Night Football game, Lyons blocked former Alabama teammate and Hall of Famer Dwight Stephenson in what Dolphins players and coaches labeled a 'cheap shot' that ended his career.[5] Dwight Stephenson himself claimed it was a clean block, explaining that he caught his leg as he went down, and never blamed Lyons for the injury.
| Seasons | Games | Starts | Sacks | FR | Yds | Sfty |
| 11 | 147 | 135 | 45 | 8 | 10 | 2 |
Broadcasting career
editIn 2002, Lyons joined the New York Jets radio network, spending 22 seasons broadcasting games alongside Bob Wischusen. He retired following the 2023 season and moved into what the team called an "ambassador role".[6]
Personal life
editWhile a player with the Jets, a series of events — the birth of his eldest son, the passing of his father, and the passing of a little boy to whom Lyons had been a Big Brother — inspired him to establish the Marty Lyons Foundation to work with terminally ill children, providing them wishes. He won the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award in 1984 as a result of that work. In December 2011, Lyons was honored by the Heisman Trust as the recipient of the sixth annual Heisman Humanitarian Award for his work with his Foundation.[7]
Lyons currently is the chairman of the Marty Lyons Foundation. He has been enshrined in the State of Alabama Hall of Fame (2000), Long Island's Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame (2001) and Nassau County Sports Hall of Fame (2002), Maryland Sports Hall of Fame (2004), the Tampa Bay Sports Club Hall of Fame (2007), and the College Football Hall of Fame (2011).[8]
Lyons received his bachelor's degree from the University of Alabama during winter commencement exercises on December 10, 2016.
Lyons and his wife, Christine, have three children named Jesse, Megan, and Lucas. Rocky, his only child from his first marriage, is a physician in Alabama.
References
edit- ^ Rick Rush (March 1979). "You Better Pass". Archived from the original on August 26, 2011.
- ^ Cimini, Rich (September 6, 2008). "Jets defense looking to regain glory days of Sack Exchange". New York Daily News.
- ^ Bickley, Dan (January 18, 2006). "NFL officials aren't as bad as they seem". The Arizona Republic. Archived from the original on February 21, 2023. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
- ^ Arias, Ron (December 14, 1987). "Five Year-Old Rocky Lyons, Son of the Jets' Star, Thought He Could Save His Mom's Life - and He Did". People Magazine.
- ^ Anderson, Dave (December 9, 1987). "SPORTS OF THE TIMES; Was It a 'Cheap Shot,' or Was It Clean?". New York Times. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
- ^ "Marty Lyons Set to Move Into an Ambassador Role for Jets". newyorkjets.com. New York Jets. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
- ^ "Marty Lyons Named 2011 Heisman Humanitarian Recipient" (PDF) (Press release). Heisman Trust. November 14, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 6, 2011. Retrieved November 14, 2011.
- ^ Gould, Izzy (December 28, 2011). "Alabama news and notes: Crimson Tide returns to practice Wednesday". AL.com.
External links
edit- Career statistics and player information from the NFL, or Pro-Football-Reference.com, or databaseFootball.com
- The Marty Lyons Foundation
- Virtual Nassau County Sports Hall of Fame Archived February 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine