Related Articles
Abdul Salaam, an unassuming but important member of the ferocious Jets defensive line, known as the New York Sack Exchange, that preyed on quarterbacks in the 1980s, died on Tuesday in Cincinnati. He was 71.
His wife, Debbie, said he died in a hospital from multiple illnesses.
The Sack Exchange represented a high point in the Jets’ fraught history. Mark Gastineau and Joe Klecko, terrifying edge rushers who chased down and tackled quarterbacks behind the line of scrimmage, were the stars of the foursome. Salaam and Marty Lyons were the run stoppers.
“The unsung heroes — me and Marty Lyons, the defensive tackles,” Salaam told The New York Times in 1983. “But the whole team realizes what we’re doing.”
Gastineau and Klecko “were battling to see who had the most sacks,” Lyons recalled in an interview, “and I was fortunate to be wedged between Abdul to my left and Joe to my right. Running was our responsibility. Take care of the run first and, on any passing situation, we had to tie up three guys in the middle so they couldn’t double-team Mark or Joe.”
In 1982, Salaam told Sports Illustrated that his success on the Jets’ defensive line increased “when the coaches took me out of the guard-center gap and put me head-up on the guard. I’d been in a read-and-react situation before, but now I could work on beating my man and putting pressure on the passer. Instead of survival, my game was now domination.”
In 1981, the Sack Exchange’s peak season, Klecko led the team with 20.5 sacks, followed by Gastineau’s 20.0, Salaam’s 7.0 and Lyons’s 6.5. During that season, they rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.
In all, the team accumulated a franchise-record 66 sacks — the second-most in N.F.L. history at the time — during a season when the Jets had a 10-5-1 record. But in their first playoff appearance since 1969, they lost the wild-card playoff game to the Buffalo Bills.
The Sack Exchange also helped lead the Jets to the American Football Conference title game in the strike-shortened 1982 season. They lost to the Miami Dolphins.
Gastineau was the wild child of the bunch, known for his theatrical dances after a sack.
“I worked very close with Mark, so when he did the sack dance, I knew he was sincerely happy about getting the sack,” Salaam told NewYorkJets.com in 2019. “So it was kind of a dance for me, too.”
Salaam had 21 sacks over his eight-year career, all with the Jets.
He and the other members of the Sack Exchange were recently interviewed by ESPN for a documentary. Klecko is the only one of the four lineman to be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Abdul Salaam was born Larry James Faulk on Feb. 12, 1953, in New Brockton, Ala., and moved with his family to Cincinnati when he was young. His father, Haywood Faulk, was a mechanic, and his mother, Azlene (Nicholson) Faulk, worked in a hospital.
After graduating from Woodward High School in 1972, he married Debbie Rawls, who lived across the street from him and whom he met when they were children. In addition to her, he is survived by his sons, Lawrence and Omar Salaam; his sisters, Rasheeda, Tracy, Felicia and Angie; and two granddaughters.
At Kent State University, he was chosen twice for the Mid-American Conference’s first team as a defensive lineman and was named the conference’s “Mr. Defense” as a junior. He graduated in 1976 with a business degree.
The Jets chose him in the seventh round of the 1976 N.F.L. draft, then selected Klecko the next year and Gastineau and Lyons in 1979.
Salaam had already converted to Islam when he changed his name in 1977 from Larry Faulk to Abdul Salaam, which means “soldier of peace.”
“You know, your religion is your own personal thing,” he told Newsday in 1977. “The changing of the name is something that you feel inside of you. I felt inside of me that I wanted my name to represent what I am. Abdul Salaam. It’s an appropriate name for me.”
He added: “The only thing that anybody can do is reach peace. And in reaching peace you have to have knowledge and understanding. When you’re at peace with your mind, you can conquer anything.”
Salaam was traded to the San Diego Chargers after the 1983 season but was waived without playing a game. After retiring, he coached football at three high schools.
“I spoke to him about two weeks ago,” Lyons said, “and the last thing I told him was, ‘I love you, Abby.’”
<
