Former defensive tackle Abdul Salaam died Tuesday after battling health issues, his widow Debbie told ESPN. Salaam was 71.
A key member of the Jets’ defensive line from 1976 to 1983, Salaam famously 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 through everything.’
‘He was well-respected in the locker room, loved by his teammates,’ Lyons told ESPN. ‘His name said it all: Solider of Peace. He was so soft-spoken, but he was a big part of what we accomplished.’
Born Larry Faulk in in 1953, he would change his name to Abdul Salaam, meaning ‘Soldier of Peace,’ in 1977 as he sought to bring more serenity to his life.
Former New York Jets defensive tackle Abdul Salaam (near right) teamed with Mark Gastineau (right), Joe Klecko (far left) and Marty Lyons (near left) on the famed Sack Exchange
Former New York Jets defensive tackle Abdul Salaam, died Tuesday following health issues
Joe Klecko, Marty Lyons, Abdul Salaam and Mark Gastineau known collectively as The New York Jets’ famed ‘Sack Exchange’ work the floor of the American Stock Exchange after the Opening Bell to help kickoff the coming National Football League season on August 29, 2007
In 1981, the former Kent State star helped bring the Jets back to the playoffs for the first time since 1969 as 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 some great help in bringing Marty and Mark in.
‘It was like a heavyweight fight. You had to be scrappy and know that you were going to be hit. You had to stay up on your feet and keep going. It was just a coldblooded struggle.’
That same season, Salaam, Gastineau, Klecko and Lyons were invited to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.
In retirement, Salaam returned to the Cincinnati area, where he’d attended high school decades earlier.