April 23, 2025 • 46 mins
On the latest NFL Players: Second Acts podcast, former Jets defensive tackle Marty Lyons joins Peanut and Roman. Marty discusses what it was like to play for legendary Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, and he takes inside the famous goal line stand against Penn St. in the 1979 Sugar Bowl to win the National Championship. Marty then tells stories of playing his entire career with the Jets, being part of the New York Sack Exchange, and what led to his infamous fight with Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly. Later, Marty shares his favorite stories during his time as a Jets radio announcer, the work he’s done to help restore athletic fields at HBCUs, and his passion for supporting terminally ill children.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
He goes, I can't wait till Brett Favre gets here.
(00:02):
I'm going to hand ship room. Hey what, he goes, Yeah,
I'm going to hit him. You know, he took away
my sack. I go, Mark, what are you talking about?
I said, you can't do that. He goes, I'm going
to do it. I said, Mark, it's not going to
be beneficial to you.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
What's up, everybody?
Speaker 3 (00:23):
I'm Peanut to Himan and this is the NFL Player's
Second Act podcast and with me as always my choice
co host Roman Harbor.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
What's up, Peanut Man. Look, I'm really excited about this
with number one. He's a former Alabama Great all time legend.
Got to watch this man from Afar for a very
long time, and now this is my first actual time
really getting to meet him and sit down and talk
with him. I can't wait to let our viewers and
listeners get to hear this great man story.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
He's an eleven year vet all with the Jets Walter
Payton Man of the Year Award winner. He's in the
Jets Ring of Honor, and he is the senior vice
president of Marketing and pr at Land Take ladies and gentlemen,
welcome to the pot, Marty Lyons.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yes, pot, welcome to the pot.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
And master storyteller. Master storyteller.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
I should have added that to the resume.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
He's in the College Football Hall of Fame. He's also
considered to be one of the greatest players in Alabama's
football history as.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Well considered let's just say he is.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Well, it's just a whole bunch of them.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Just a lot of guys to take you are a
bunch of them.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
So you've heard it on our podcast Morning Lines, the
greatest Crimson tied Alabama football player ever. I just said it.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Okay, well, good, thank you.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
I'll put it out there. That leads me right to
my first one. I hear about it all the time.
I get to hear the rumbled and mumbled voice on
the Jumbo Trons on Saturdays in Tuscaloosa of Bear Bryant.
What was it like playing for the Bear?
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Yeah, well, you know, Ruman, I think any any player
that played for Coach Bryant would address him as Coach Bryant.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
You know, we never said Bear Bryant.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
You know, I think Coach Briant cared about his players
more as individuals than.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Actual football players.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
When I got there, in nineteen seventy five, walking in
there with not knowing anybody, and there's thirty freshmen from
around the country and I was all state and three sports.
Guy next to me was all state and four sports.
So Coach Brian had the pick and he walked into
the room. He said, there's four things I want you
to accomplish why you're here. Number one, always be proud
(02:25):
of your family. Number two, always be proud of your religion.
Number three, get an education. Number four, if we have time,
let's win some football games. So he took thirty individuals
and blended us together as a team and as a family,
and we went on to win one national championship, three
SEC titles, and only to lose six games. So I
(02:49):
think Coach Brian prepared us that one when the game ended,
for each and every one of us, we could go
on and be active in our community and be successful.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
So I want to talk about that national championship. So
in seventy nine, you guys with the Sugar Bowl, I
believe was here, right, yes, right, Sugar Bowl was here,
And there's a famous fourth and goal right the quarterback
for Penn State, Chuck Fasina.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Right, did you ask.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Him, or did you tell him that he should throw
the ball on the fourth.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
But it wasn't. I wasn't trying to be as smart
ass or anything.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
How did it come out? Was it like came out?
Speaker 1 (03:27):
We were over there by the official and Chuck said
to the official, how far isn't And the official went
about like that, and he looked at me like, so
what should we do? I go, you better throw the ball.
And if they had thrown the ball, they might have scored.
But it was a perfect play.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Defensively with all the defensive linemen, we got the penetration.
Barry Kraus came over the top, Rich Wingo came from
the side. Mike Clemens, who was a corner, came off
the corner.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
As the running back started jump, he grabbed them around
the way. So there was no momentum.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
And you talk about winning the national championship with a
gold line stand and everybody, eleven players on the same page.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
And it really started with Ken Donnee, the defense.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Coordinator, calling in that play. Now, we were so prepared
getting ready to go down to play Penn State. We
knew down in distance which side of the ball, and
coach Paterno had the same philosophy as coach Bryant. If
we can't run the ball one yard and one yard,
pick up a first down to score, we don't deserve
(04:39):
to win. So we knew right away that they were
going to try to run the ball.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
It wasn't even close, No, that was it was.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
Well, that picture is up on all a lot of walls, yeah,
a lot of places. That was how I first got
to know it and hear your name, you and mister
Krause and so like. That was the play that won
the national championship for Alabama on the one, the fourth fourth,
the one stop. So it's been amazing. It's just really
cool to actually hear from your story. That's why we
said he's a great storyteller. Yeah, I can't wait to
(05:06):
hear this story. What was your welcome to the NFL
moment back when the NFL was like the NFL.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Well, I think my welcome moment. You know, you go
out with all the vets after a practice and they'll
take you to a bar and the next thing you know,
everybody's ordering drinks or order and shots her ordering food,
and then you go to the bathroom and you come
out and nobody's there and the bartender gives you the bill.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah, first thing you do is you pay the bill,
but you.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Don't complain about it, and then you kind of become
one of them.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
True.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
And walking out of the weight room, I think it
was the first week of training camp, you know, I
run into Joe Cleco and it's Joe Cleco's team, and
he looks at me and he goes, hey, rook, where
are you going? I said, I just got done working out, Joe,
I'm leaving. He goes, he goes, now you're not. He goes,
you need to. It's stronger. He goes, from now on,
(06:02):
you don't leave this complex until I leave. I went, okay, Joe,
and I started to walk off, and he grabbed me
again and he goes, did you hear what I said?
So I was very fortunate. Joe took me underneath his
wing and I went in there. I had to get stronger.
I got stronger with Joe. And you know, our opening game,
we were playing the Cleveland Browns and I was at
(06:25):
that time playing defensive end rather than defensive tackle. So
I lined up against Ozzie Knewsom and Ozzie and I
were friends from college, and you know, he had that.
You know, he would get down in that three point
stance and he'd be real low and he'd look up
at me and goes, hey, homie, how you doing. And
just as I answered him, they snapped the ball. He
(06:46):
hooked me and ran for fifteen yards. So I knew,
you know, that ain't That's not the way to do it.
And then the second game, we played New England and
we were down thirty five to three at halftime, and
we lost few fifty six to three. And it was
the worst beating I'd ever taken. And I got back
on the plane and you know, at that time, the
(07:07):
rookie sat in the middle of the plane and the
veterans were in the back, and I look in the
back and these guys are playing cards, drinking beer, smoking cigarettes,
smoking cigars, and I go, you know, aren't you guys embarrassed?
And that was welcome to the NFL. You know, don't
you don't get caught up in what we did last
(07:28):
week what we did this week, because the next.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Week you got to get ready to play again.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
And you know, we were able to turn it around
in the early eighties and started to get the leadership
that we needed and made it to an AFC championship
game down there in Miami, and we lost, you know,
fourteen to nothing. Richard Todd, who was so instrumental in
getting us there, had a bad day at quarterback. He
threw five interceptions. And you know the funny thing about it.
(07:55):
I was good friends with Richard because he played at Alabama.
And we went out to dinner the right after the
game a couple of days later.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
And his mom was there. And his mom was a Southern.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Lady, and out of nowhere, she goes, you know, I
love seeing Richard play football. No matter where he throws it,
somebody's going to catch it. I looked at Richard and
he goes, no, Mom, that's not the right thing to
say right now.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
So I've been fortunate enough being in Chicago, being on
some dominant defenses, right, you know the history of Chicago.
They're known for their defenses. You the New York sack Exchange,
phenomenal defense. What are some of your favorite memories being
on that?
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Well, it wasn't we'd go into a game. It wasn't
are we going to get to the quarterback? It was
how many times we were going to get there? How
many times we were going to hit them when you
have two edge rushers, one being Joe Klucko and the
other being Marks you know, you know, Abdulla and I.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
All we had to.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Do was type up the two guards in the center
because they couldn't double team both of them right, And
we had an excellent back seven. The linebackers were excellent.
The secondary gave us enough time.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
I love that, and you give them the dB some
some love. Well, you know what Russian cover. I appreciate that.
If they don't work hand in hand, it's not going
to work.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
And we were fortunate that that year we got sixty
six sacks and everybody got their share. But you look
at Mark and Joe, they were both in the twenties
and it's a moment you look back on and you're
very thankful that you were a part of.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
So number one. Who came up with the sack exchange?
I know, like you know the stock exchange is in
New York, Like, who came up.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
With you know what?
Speaker 1 (09:42):
I always thought it was Pepper Burrs, he was our
assistant trainer, but they actually ran a contest and somebody
thought of the New York Stock Exchange. Why don't we
say New York sack exchange, and then all of a
sudden it happened, and then we got a shoe deal
and everybody we were signing posters. And I believe that
(10:05):
in the beginning they only wanted two people. They only
wanted Joe and Mark. And Joe went to the people said,
you know what, and this is with the shoe contract,
said if you don't do all four of them, I'm out.
So actually, Joe Kleco negotiated my first shoe contract in
the NFL. Did you see that when I was there,
(10:31):
you were there. I told him not to do it.
It was it was, to be honest with you, it
was premeditated. Oh you know how when you go to
these shows you.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Have to.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
The whole brettfah well, you know, Brett Faarr filled down
and let straight I get the sack record. Oh you
broke Mark Gastino's record.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
He just like I saw.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
I was like, I think he's serious.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
He was serious. He was he was serious.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
You know how when you go to these shows, you
have X amount of items you got to sign in
the back, and then you got to sign for the public.
So I walked in that morning, Mark was signing some
of the items in the back. So I said to him, Mark,
how you doing you last night? You were a little tired.
How you feeling He goes, I'm feeling alright. He goes,
I can't wait till Brett Farv gets here. I'm going
(11:19):
to handship room, I go. He goes, yeah, I'm going
to hit him. You know, he took away my sack.
I go, Mark, what are you talking about? I said,
you can't do that. He goes, I'm going to do it.
I said, Mark, it's not going to be beneficial to you.
And all a sudden, Brett Farv walks by and I
see Mark's wife. They walk in there. I walk around
(11:41):
the backside just to make sure nothing was going to
happen somebody.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
And Mark said to him, Hey, you know what, you
hurt me. You hurt me. I want my sack back.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
And I'm looking at him like Brett Farv is looking
at him like, hey, WHOA what's going on here? And
it went down, and then I went over to talked
to Brett because I had met him when he was
playing with the Jets. I was doing the radio and
I apologized for Mark, and he said, man, I thought
I was going to have to throw down on him.
He goes, man, I looked in his eyes. Man, he goes,
(12:13):
he is lost, But Mark says he beats to his
own drum.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
I saw a story, and I can't wait to hear
your version of this. You were once penalized for given
a quarterback the business. That's what the referee didn't got
tell me what happened on the play, because I didn't
see the play. I just saw the penalty, and the
referee was very demonstrative in his whatever you were doing
(12:41):
to give him the business.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Well I was. You know.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
We were the build up between the Jets and Buffalo Bills,
you know, and we were aging out the defensive line,
and I think middle of the week Jim Kelly said
he wasn't worried about the pass.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Rush or anything.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
So in the first quarter he was going out of
bounds and I hit him, and he got up. He
threw the ball at me, and I went back. I
went back at Jim. I got my ass kicked because
I was on their sideline, and right before halftime he
rolled out through the ball.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
I hit him. I'm laying on top of them.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
He says some ugly things to me about being on
top of them and then I just started pounding them.
And the first thing I did after a sign of
respect to Jim, you know, it was something that happened
on the field. Yeah, you know, I didn't. I have
the utmost respect for Jim Kelly. I patted him on
the you know, the helmet. He patted me on the helmet,
and if you go back and you look at it,
(13:42):
I'm bleeding from I think it was this side, the
left hand, right hand side. And later I would find
out that Jim Kelly said that his index finger, he
would always leave that nail a little bit longer so
when he threw the ball he could spin it off
that nail. Well, he came through my face mask and
(14:04):
kind of cut me, and I just had him a
few times.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
I saw you guys pat each other on the helmet
though afterwards, So you guys made up very quickly. Oh no,
I and Jim Kelly's not the only guy quarterback that
keeps the nail. We found out Warner does the same thing.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
I didn't know that was it. I didn't either.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
And again, Jim Kelly, you know, Hall of Fame quarterback.
He could have been a Hall of Fame linebacker. He
had that same mentality, same as you know Phil Simms.
We used to love to play against the Giants because
Phil was so he was so vocal to his offensive
line if they missed the block and we would say, hey,
(14:42):
you know what, like billy Ard, don't take that man,
just open the gates.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
We'll take care of them, you know, but hopefully for
you all.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
So when you retired, you got in the radio. I've
done the radio utmost respect. It is something very difficult
to do. I don't think people know that you've been
doing and you did it. How did you get involved
with me in the Jets.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Well, I first started off in TV and doing college games,
and you're making five hundred dollars a game by the
time they take taxes out by time you travel. So
you do it to stay for me to stay visible
in the community, and then to see whether I really
liked it. And then I started working doing the Jets
(15:23):
TV show called Jet Journal, so you know, you're just taping.
They can cut, they can edit, you can do whatever
you want. And then the Jets radio job came up,
and I had built a resume where being a Jet
living in New York, you know, it was something to do.
And I remember working with al Chroldwick and he's from
(15:46):
MSG and NBC. He said, when you do radio, pretend
you're talking to a blind person. He said, you're painting
a picture.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
You don't always have to be right. Paint the picture.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
So I did for the Jets for twenty two years,
and unfortunately, you know, there was a time for a change.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
I went into a new role.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
But I always try to be respectful to the players
as a former player, but I had a responsibility to
the listener. If you missed a tackle, I had to
point that out. If you didn't hold containment, I had
to point that out to me. That's not being negative,
that's being honest. And you know, I had the pleasure
(16:27):
of working with Bob was Shuesen, who does a lot
of work with ESPN, and we enjoyed doing it. I
think we were complimentary to both. You have to have
that chemistry. You don't want to step on him. He
didn't want to step on me. And I really, I
really did enjoy I got to know the players a
little bit better, got to see the game differently too,
(16:50):
because you got to react real quick on what happened
on that play and being the color person, I was
just there to say why it worked, why it didn't work,
and why are you calling that play on third and
one and you're inside the twenty and you know what,
you have three All Pro players a guard and two
(17:14):
guards in the center, and why are you trying to
throw the ball?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Run it?
Speaker 1 (17:19):
It's you know, yeah, but it was fun and we
had an eighty five percent approval rate by the fans,
so I think the fans appreciated it. And again, everything
that I was doing up there in New York was
enabled me to stay visible with the community and with
the fans.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
What's one of the what's one of your favorite calls?
Speaker 2 (17:40):
That was exactly my favorite call.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
That's one of the best calls you've ever made.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Well, you got to remember the play by play guy
makes the best calls.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Well your analysis, Annalys.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
I remember when the Jets were playing Seattle and they
moved the ball right down the field and it was
like fourth and about six inches and they were inside
the five yard line, and then you had Nick Mangole
as a guard and you had two all Pro guards,
(18:11):
and I was saying that this is a perfect opportunity
to run the ball, and Eric Mangini was the head
coach and he kicked the field goal, and I just
couldn't understand it. Did you lose it a little bit?
Put it this way when they knocked on the door
and said, hey, you know what, let's cut it out
(18:32):
a little bit. But if you look at the way
the game played out the second half, they never crossed
the fifty yard line. You got to get points when
you can get points, but I'm telling you it was
less than less than six inches.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
You know you got.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
All you have to do nowadays is get the quarterback
to get one underneath the center and fall forward. You're
going to pick that up. And the Jets decided to
kick the field gold, which you know, to this day,
I don't think was the right move.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Were you there for the buff fumble? I was when
Mark Santez? Yes, Thanksgiving? Yes, So tell me what was
that like? I gotta know that.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Guess that call?
Speaker 2 (19:13):
It was New England scoring.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
I think they scored two touchdowns in less than fourteen seconds,
right they did? Yes, But you know Mark went to
hand off the ball and nobody was there. So he
went to run and New England had made the penetration
and he ran into the back of his offensive guard
and fumbled the ball. New England picks it up, they
(19:35):
run it in for a touchdown. Then the Jets kick off.
They fumbled the ball. New England picks it up and
they run it in again. You know, it was a
typical Thanksgiving dinner that the Jetskip just gave the Patriots.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
It was I think I want to listen today.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
I would look like when you're up there and you
see it, what I know, your guys making the call, But.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
What do you do? How do you just describe the
why to that?
Speaker 1 (20:03):
You know, Rom and I I you just look and
you're baffled. You go, I can't describe what just happened.
But for all you listeners, Mark just stuck the ball
up his offensive guards, but all fumbled.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
And you know, it was funny.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
It was funny now that you look backward, right, yeah,
But I can only imagine imagining in the booth, like,
how do I even explain what just happened?
Speaker 2 (20:30):
There's no way to explain.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
We're gonna take a short break and we'll be right back.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
Let's talk about what you did now post and it's
probably something you've been doing.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Had your little hands into.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
Already and that was Landtek where you guys either helped
build fields athletic facilities or you also I saw you
teamed up with Arthur Blank and you guys helped re surface,
helped level them back out, sorry, leveled it all the
some HBCU fields out in Alabama and in Georgia.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
I think what Arthur Blank did is tremendous to donate,
you know, the amount of money that he did. And
then the NFL got involved and they chose Lantek as
the contractor of choice. So we went down there and
looked at the facilities and it was a shame that
here it was in twenty twenty four athletes coming out
(21:28):
of these programs and nobody being able to update their facilities.
So we went down there. We took two synthetic fields
and redid those and put in new turf, and then
we took two natural grass fields and converted them over
to synthetic grass. But a lot of thanks to Arthur
(21:51):
Blank and the you know, historical Black colleges and university,
they need to be addressed by more owners because the
owners are pulling athletes out of their programs. But the
facilities are just they're really dated when I retired, I
went back. I tried to get into coaching three times.
(22:12):
One with Bruce Coslet, Sorry, you're too close to the team.
The second time was with Pete Carroll. He said, you
really don't want to coach. He goes, you want to
help this organization. Go to the PR department, tell us
how our players can get more active in the community.
They go, Pete, I don't have to tell people how
(22:32):
to do that. They have to want to do that.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
And then the.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Third time I tried was with Richie Kotype and you
know Richie when thank god I didn't get on that
staff because I would have been fired after two years.
He went one in fifteen, and then I think he
went three and thirteen, and.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Then on straight three.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
I went back to school and I got my security
license and spent five years over at Payne Weber. I
got my series sixty five, sixty three, all the license
went in there. Pretty successful there, but it's hard to
ask friends to give me your money so I can
invest it. And it was one of those Compliance also
(23:16):
came into play because I had outside activities that I
was making money doing speaking engagements, doing their Jets TV show,
and they wanted me to disclose how much money I
was making outside of pain WEAB and I said, no,
I'm not going to do that. And after five years
at pain Weab, I went to the Lantech Group. Lantech
(23:39):
they buildings, the design athletic fields. That's all they do,
athletic field construction, from building fields, tracks, bleachers, lights, you
name it, we'll do it. At that time, they were
probably six point two six point four million. In the
late two thousand and last year we close down at
(24:00):
just under three hundred million, so the company's growing. The
owners were young, energetic guys, and they said, Marty, you
know what we.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Need your help. You can.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
And the good thing about working with the Atlantic Group
is I could always schedule my meetings. If I'm meeting
with you two, I want to meet with you on Friday,
So you're going to ask me, okay, what can you
do to help me build a better facility. But you're
also going to say, has football fans, Hey, how about
the Jets this week?
Speaker 2 (24:31):
So I'm mixing one with the other.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
And if I don't meet with you on Friday, I'll
meet with you on Monday and then we'll talk about
what we can do to help your facility and then
they look at me and they go.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
What happened to the Jets? It's always what happened? You know?
Speaker 1 (24:46):
What are they going to turn this thing around? And
I go, you know what, be honest with you. You know,
I don't know. You know, it's difficult on the broadcasters
doing the same team and the team is out of
the playoffs by Thanksgiving. It's tough, and you always try
(25:07):
to stay positive. You always try to put the spin
on it. But I think that you know, you look
at the Jets. They got some guys that can really play,
but you're going to have to keep them. You know,
Sauce Gardner one of the best corners I've seen since,
Darrel Reeves one of the best wide receiver. You know,
Garrett Wilson, great, great young player. How are the Jets
(25:29):
going to keep them?
Speaker 2 (25:31):
You know, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
And that is the key. Now, how do you keep
the key players? And how do you spread the money around?
And how do you make everybody happy? I don't know
if it's possible to do that. They you know, they
try to shuffle the money in one direction and then
it comes to another. But when you're you, we all
know you have a limited time in the NFL, whether
(25:55):
it's your choice or their choice, and more than likely
it could be their choice. So you want to make
the money when you can, so there is no hometown
discount anymore. I don't care whether you drafted me in
the first round. You know I got I signed that
long five year contract, you know with or four year
with the option in the fifth. Yeah, the team and
(26:18):
then if you're not winning, you want to go someplace
to win.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
That's it, you.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Know, as arm said, did you played this game to win?
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:29):
And I tell you what herm Edwards was one of
the best guys I ever worked with. Up there doing
the TV show. I'd ask him a question and he'd
put that.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Leg up on the desk. He goes, come on, coach,
you know that. You know that.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
You know that guy ain't tough. You know he ain't
lining it up on Sunday. The honesty that they showed myself,
in the respect that they showed it was it was
like you and I having a conversation that comes Sunday.
You know what you can use and you know what
not to use. Yeah, And if you break that trust,
(27:06):
I'm not going to tell you anything else.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Going on in this season.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
Yeah, yeah, I want to pivot on something else. I
want some foundation work. I know Rom and I we
both have our foundations, and you do some of create,
excuse me, some incredible things with your foundation. I know
you help kids who are three to seventeen who are
battling or being diagnosed with a terminal illness.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Terminal illness or chronic life threatening disease. You know, I started.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
I started in nineteen eighty two. Yeah, we had just
come from the AFC Championship game, which we lost. My
oldest son was born on March fourth. Suddenly, my dad
passed away of a massive heart attack on March eighth.
A little boy that I was a big brother too,
passed away on March tenth, a matter of six days,
(27:56):
and Keith was only five and a half. He went
from the ultimate high to the old low. And I
really felt at that time God was punishing me. He
was saying, you know, I couldn't understand how you could
bless me with a son and then take away two
people I love. And I said, what am I doing wrong?
And a day would turn into a week, a week, two,
a month, and all of a sudden I woke up
(28:18):
one morning, I looked in the mirror and I didn't
like the reflection I was allowing death to to find
who I was. So I went to my roommate with
the Jets, Kenny Schroy, and I said, Kenny, you.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Know what I think.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
I'm going to start a foundation. Started a foundation for
termally ill children. And then I met with a guy
by the name of Bill Gibney. He was a former marine.
He said, I'll help you, but it's not a one
and done and I said, what do you mean a
one and done? He goes, You're going to continue to
do this throughout you know, your playing days, and then
(28:52):
when you're done playing, I would hope that you're going
to continue. And I said yeah, So first thing you
have to do is get licensed as a five o'
one nonprofit.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
I didn't have any money.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
So I decided to talk to my wife. I said,
you know what, all the speaking engagements I'm going to do,
I'm going to donate the money back and I would
be up there and we'd be brought to tears talking
about that week. And then I said, you know what,
I want to start a foundation for terminally ill children.
I want to give them their greatest wish in life.
(29:25):
I want to take their greatest wish and make it reality.
I want to make these kids feel important, even if
it's just for a day. I said, because I had
that feeling every time I ran out on a field
in Alabama, every time I ran out on the field
with the Jets. So I would tell the people, I
(29:45):
need your help, I need your help. I need you
to accept my mission as your mission, and let's do
it together. And I would walk out and somebody would
shake your hand and you'd feel that little talk and
they go.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
I hope this helps.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Pretty soon I had enough money for my first wish.
A seventeen year old boy named Steve and Stephen had
liphomia and he was so strong. We had a press conference.
Mister Hess who owned the Jets, my teammates, we were
there for the press conference, and unfortunately Steven passed away before.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
We could grant the wish.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
But now we were out there in the eyes of
the public. So fast forward. Here it is forty three
years later. We're now in fourteen states and we've raised
over forty four million dollars and we've helped over eighty
six hundred families, which tells you there's a lot of
(30:42):
kids out there that need our help. And the one
thing that I've learned from these kids is you know,
you don't have to fear dying if you believe in
God and you have faith, when you do die, you're
going to be rewarded. You're going to get to see
everything that you believed in. So it's been special. These
(31:03):
kids know that they're here for a reason, and for
some reason because maybe not they're not normal, maybe they're
in a wheelchair. People have a tendency not even to
listen to them, to walk right by them. But they
have a story and they wanted it to be heard.
(31:23):
They wanted to be told, so we're they allow the
foundation to do that. So I'm proud of of.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
The work everybody has accomplished.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
It's not money may be on it, but there's hundreds,
hundreds of people that have played their role, either been
a donor either been a volunteer. And I tell people,
if you don't have money, you don't have time, give
us your thoughts and prayers. God's going to answer your
prayer one day and give us back one that we
(32:00):
thought he should take, and that's going to be a
living example of proof that the work you're doing it
has meaning.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
So if somebody wanted to donate or volunteer, how could
they go about it?
Speaker 1 (32:14):
They just go to the Martin Llonsfoundation dot org and
you can go there. There's a number you can call
into the foundation. I have a staff of four people.
For I would say the first twenty five years, I
didn't have a single paid employee. Everything was done by
a volunteer. And then all of a sudden, I said
(32:37):
to the board, I said, you know what I believe
in the theory, if you want to make money, you
got to spend money. And I said, I think we
can do more for the kids that we want to
help if I get an executive director. So I hired
an executive director. Then I hired a wish coordinator, then
I hired an event coordinator.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
And with all those salaries that.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
We have, we're still able to get back eighty four
cents out of every dollar to the kids. So I'm
taking sixteen cents and building the staff.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (33:12):
Well, first of all, it's great, and I can already
tell how much that truly means to you, and how
like I said yesterday, Peanut, you liked it so much.
I'll say it again, once you're affected by something, you'll
become an advocate for it. And so you that's six days
in your life in nineteen eighty two changed your life
and you created this foundation. And then two short years
(33:32):
later you were recognized as the Man of the Year
and now it is called the Walter Payton Man of
the Year. How much pride do you take and that
being recognized is that one of the first ones to
get it, and what that award truly means and that
you were actually recognized, but we're actually getting to tell
the story of all these young people that you've got
to he.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Well, you know what, Romanete, I think when I accept
the award back then, and I'll say it again, it
might have had my name on it, but really it
was an award that was given to all the kids
from the foundation. I just happened to accept it on
behalf of them and all the volunteers. And that's the
way I've always looked at it, whether it has my
(34:14):
name on it or the foundation name. Those kids were
special and I just happened to be the one representing them,
so to be you know, Walter Payton meant so much
to the NFL, but he meant so much into the community.
When I received the award, it was the Miller Lte
Man of the Year. Yeah, you know, there wasn't many
(34:39):
of us that got it from Miller Lyte. And you know,
there was a few fringes that went with Miller like
to know. I got to go to quite a few
of their events, and you know, you could pull into
any distributorship and you get fifty cases of beer and
you have yourself a nice party. But it was nice
that it was nice that it was transferred over to
(35:01):
recognize somebody that meant so much to the NFL, not
just as a Hall of Famer, but as an individual
that took time to make sure he gave back.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
To the community.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
So as soon as they switched it over, I called
the NFL and I said, you know what, Mike Plaque
says Miller Lyte. We peeled it off and we put
Walter Payton on there.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
That's so good. Yeah, I like that. I like that.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
So we've asked this question to numerous guests on the
podcast Mount Rushmore. If you had your own personal Mount
Rushmore of people of influenced guidance and you get to
pick four who were those four people.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Being well, first, you you know, you pick pick God,
you know, because God blessed us all with the ability
to play the game of football, so the Good Lord
would be up there first. I think coach Bryant would
be up there because he influenced me. And then my parents, Oh,
(36:08):
they really sacrificed. Coming from a family of seven kids,
five boys h two girls. They believed in religion and education, athletics.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
I don't think one or the other or both ever
missed the game.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
With with with all of us playing, and I remember
going and watching my older brother, who was.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
An outstanding bath small player, went to West Point.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
I was six years younger than him.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
And I said, boy, he's pretty good. I want to
I want to be like him.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
Yeah, if I'm like him, I'm going to be good.
But if I'm better than him, I'm going to be recognized.
And then my other brother, Dan played the basketball at
boy Olli, but he was a football player. He was
two years in front of me. And as going to
(37:46):
a small Catholic school, you know, one a you got
maybe twenty eight thirty players, and you know, so they
would always move some of the freshmen up to the
varsity just during practice, so we would get our ass kicked.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
And my brother was one of those bodies. They needed
more bodies.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
They needed more bodies, and my brother was one of
the guys up there. So you know, I didn't love football.
I didn't have the passion for it. I didn't understand
the coaches that. You know what, We had a coach
by named Bill Kleier, and we used to run that
Hamburger drill. And that's when you have two dummies laying
(38:24):
on the ground, you have a linebacker, the quarterback hands
you the ball. You got to run it between the
two dummies. But this guy's coming straight at you, and
he knows exactly he knows it, and you got to
stay inside the dummy. Coach Clier grabbed me by the
face mask, and you know, he was said, you know,
there's nobody out here that can tackle you. I ran
(38:46):
on the ball in there, run it again, got smacked
the third time, Run it again, and he kept grabbing
me by the face mask. He says, you know what,
you got to remember, there's nobody that can tackle you. Well,
finally you get somebody and you run him over and
he grabbed you by the face of backs again. And
he goes, that's the way you got to think. Nobody
can run you, nobody can tackle you. Well, next morning,
(39:08):
my brother Dan got up and he says, come on,
we got to go to practice. I said, man, I quit.
He said, what do you mean you quit? I said,
Coach Clire, yes, hey, didn't even realize that. The first
three guys tackled me. And he kept telling me you can't.
Nobody out here can tacky. I don't need this. And
my brother Dan says, you know what, if you quit now,
(39:29):
you'll continue to quit the rest of your life. Now
get your ass out of bed. We're going to practice.
And he was right, and Coach Clier was right too,
because as a running back you got to have that
mentality nobody can tackle you. And then my sophomore year,
I had a coach named George O'Brien and he took
(39:50):
an interest in sending game films out to all the
colleges and said, hey, this kid can play. He saw
more in me than I saw him. I So my
junior year, you know, there was some recruits and you
talk about a small Catholic school and going, hey, you
know what, the coach from Florida State from Florida. Doug
(40:11):
Dickey is in the stand today watching, you know, Marty Lyons,
you know. And I didn't look at myself as somebody special.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
I could play.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
And then my senior year I started getting recruited and
went to a lot of the SEC schools, and a
lot of these schools are saying, hey, you know what,
you come here, you can start Wait a minute, there's
only thirty guys on my team. We're one A and
you're telling me I can start here at Tennessee. I
can start here at Florida. And then I went to
(40:41):
Alabama and I sat down with coach Bryant. Coach Bryant
was pretty honest. He said, son, he goes, we want
to give you a scholarship. He goes, I can't make
any promises, but if you're good enough to play, the
opportunity will be here. And that's why I chose Alabama
because all I wanted to do is have the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
And then as.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
You mature and you go through life, you realize that
that's what life is about, opportunities and choices.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
Some of us are going to make good choices.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
Some of us are going to make choices that aren't
going to be beneficial, but we learn from them, and
we have to keep reiterating to our children and the
people that we talk to, is have enough faith in
yourself that with every opportunity that presents itself, you're willing
to knock on that door. You don't have to stay
there long, but don't be afraid of opportunities. If you
(41:36):
have enough confidence in yourself and you believe in yourself.
If it doesn't work out, pick yourself up try again. Now,
the world we live in, it's not a perfect world.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
We all know where the mistakes are made.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
But we have to have enough confidence in ourselves to
tell the youth of today, which is the future of tommorrow,
to have an opinion, to be able to speak up,
to be respectful to those that don't agree with your opinion,
but don't let their opinion change who you are. Be yourself,
(42:14):
have confidence in yourself. And I enjoy talking and giving
that message to the kids. But the Mount Rushmore or
the four people that gave me that ability, that pushed me, yeah,
that picked me up, that are still with me today.
Speaker 3 (42:37):
Yeah, I appreciate that. We're going to take a short
break and we'll be right back. I appreciate you, but
we appreciate you being here.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
It's been my pleasure awesome.
Speaker 4 (42:51):
You have exceeded my expectations. I've already heard great things
about you in Tuscalosa as a former Alabama great and
legend yourself. And I know you just stayed up in
New York. We never got to get you back down South.
But you are thoroughly appreciated. Peena and I, like we said,
we really appreciated your amazing storyteller. And we could set
(43:12):
up here and have lunch and listen to you tell
just talk all day long because I'm all day long
stories and you tell them so passionately and beautifully as well.
And we appreciate your emotions, your candidness, your honesty, because
this is why we do this podcast. It's for you know,
for others to actually get to know who Marty Lyons is.
We only heard about you a name and in spirit
and get to hear your stories. It's been great to
(43:34):
listen to your journey.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
Well, I really appreciate you allowing me this platform. And
you know, the man of the Year in nineteen eighty four.
The further you got away from nineteen eighty four, the
more it met and for the NFL and and Kwan
Bolden to invite us back and give us that moment
(43:58):
again bring the awareness back to the surface that you know,
we're very blessed, we're very fortunate, and the NFL is
a brotherhood. It is, and that the brotherhood of helping
one another and caring about one another is really what
life's about. We're all here to play the game of life.
(44:20):
We're not here to just play football. And I think
that the people that the football players that can't make
that transition from being a football player back into life,
those are the ones that struggle because they're caught in
that you know, time zone of I'm a football player. Well, yeah,
(44:43):
you're a football player, but let me just remind you
you were a football player. You haven't played. I haven't
played or put on a uniform since nineteen ninety so
you're talking about, you know, thirty five years ago. But
the day I stopped playing football was the day that
life really started and you had credibility behind you.
Speaker 2 (45:09):
And it's been a special moment.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
And again coming back to this Super Bowl and an
Kwon raising the awareness of the foundation and all the
other people, all the other players that he recognized. I
think it speaks volume on who he is, and I
think it speaks volume on what the NFL wants their
(45:33):
players to represent and what their players who they are,
and the difference that they can make.
Speaker 2 (45:42):
We can all make a difference. All you have to
do is care, yes, sir, yes, sir. So I'll end
on that. Thank you, appreciate you, said Martin, but
He goes, I can't wait till Brett Favre gets here.
(00:02):
I'm going to hand ship room. Hey what, he goes, Yeah,
I'm going to hit him. You know, he took away
my sack. I go, Mark, what are you talking about?
I said, you can't do that. He goes, I'm going
to do it. I said, Mark, it's not going to
be beneficial to you.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
What's up, everybody?
Speaker 3 (00:23):
I'm Peanut to Himan and this is the NFL Player's
Second Act podcast and with me as always my choice
co host Roman Harbor.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
What's up, Peanut Man. Look, I'm really excited about this
with number one. He's a former Alabama Great all time legend.
Got to watch this man from Afar for a very
long time, and now this is my first actual time
really getting to meet him and sit down and talk
with him. I can't wait to let our viewers and
listeners get to hear this great man story.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
He's an eleven year vet all with the Jets Walter
Payton Man of the Year Award winner. He's in the
Jets Ring of Honor, and he is the senior vice
president of Marketing and pr at Land Take ladies and gentlemen,
welcome to the pot, Marty Lyons.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yes, pot, welcome to the pot.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
And master storyteller. Master storyteller.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
I should have added that to the resume.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
He's in the College Football Hall of Fame. He's also
considered to be one of the greatest players in Alabama's
football history as.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Well considered let's just say he is.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Well, it's just a whole bunch of them.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Just a lot of guys to take you are a
bunch of them.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
So you've heard it on our podcast Morning Lines, the
greatest Crimson tied Alabama football player ever. I just said it.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Okay, well, good, thank you.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
I'll put it out there. That leads me right to
my first one. I hear about it all the time.
I get to hear the rumbled and mumbled voice on
the Jumbo Trons on Saturdays in Tuscaloosa of Bear Bryant.
What was it like playing for the Bear?
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Yeah, well, you know, Ruman, I think any any player
that played for Coach Bryant would address him as Coach Bryant.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
You know, we never said Bear Bryant.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
You know, I think Coach Briant cared about his players
more as individuals than.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Actual football players.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
When I got there, in nineteen seventy five, walking in
there with not knowing anybody, and there's thirty freshmen from
around the country and I was all state and three sports.
Guy next to me was all state and four sports.
So Coach Brian had the pick and he walked into
the room. He said, there's four things I want you
to accomplish why you're here. Number one, always be proud
(02:25):
of your family. Number two, always be proud of your religion.
Number three, get an education. Number four, if we have time,
let's win some football games. So he took thirty individuals
and blended us together as a team and as a family,
and we went on to win one national championship, three
SEC titles, and only to lose six games. So I
(02:49):
think Coach Brian prepared us that one when the game ended,
for each and every one of us, we could go
on and be active in our community and be successful.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
So I want to talk about that national championship. So
in seventy nine, you guys with the Sugar Bowl, I
believe was here, right, yes, right, Sugar Bowl was here,
And there's a famous fourth and goal right the quarterback
for Penn State, Chuck Fasina.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Right, did you ask.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Him, or did you tell him that he should throw
the ball on the fourth.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
But it wasn't. I wasn't trying to be as smart
ass or anything.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
How did it come out? Was it like came out?
Speaker 1 (03:27):
We were over there by the official and Chuck said
to the official, how far isn't And the official went
about like that, and he looked at me like, so
what should we do? I go, you better throw the ball.
And if they had thrown the ball, they might have scored.
But it was a perfect play.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Defensively with all the defensive linemen, we got the penetration.
Barry Kraus came over the top, Rich Wingo came from
the side. Mike Clemens, who was a corner, came off
the corner.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
As the running back started jump, he grabbed them around
the way. So there was no momentum.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
And you talk about winning the national championship with a
gold line stand and everybody, eleven players on the same page.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
And it really started with Ken Donnee, the defense.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Coordinator, calling in that play. Now, we were so prepared
getting ready to go down to play Penn State. We
knew down in distance which side of the ball, and
coach Paterno had the same philosophy as coach Bryant. If
we can't run the ball one yard and one yard,
pick up a first down to score, we don't deserve
(04:39):
to win. So we knew right away that they were
going to try to run the ball.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
It wasn't even close, No, that was it was.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
Well, that picture is up on all a lot of walls, yeah,
a lot of places. That was how I first got
to know it and hear your name, you and mister
Krause and so like. That was the play that won
the national championship for Alabama on the one, the fourth fourth,
the one stop. So it's been amazing. It's just really
cool to actually hear from your story. That's why we
said he's a great storyteller. Yeah, I can't wait to
(05:06):
hear this story. What was your welcome to the NFL
moment back when the NFL was like the NFL.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Well, I think my welcome moment. You know, you go
out with all the vets after a practice and they'll
take you to a bar and the next thing you know,
everybody's ordering drinks or order and shots her ordering food,
and then you go to the bathroom and you come
out and nobody's there and the bartender gives you the bill.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah, first thing you do is you pay the bill,
but you.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Don't complain about it, and then you kind of become
one of them.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
True.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
And walking out of the weight room, I think it
was the first week of training camp, you know, I
run into Joe Cleco and it's Joe Cleco's team, and
he looks at me and he goes, hey, rook, where
are you going? I said, I just got done working out, Joe,
I'm leaving. He goes, he goes, now you're not. He goes,
you need to. It's stronger. He goes, from now on,
(06:02):
you don't leave this complex until I leave. I went, okay, Joe,
and I started to walk off, and he grabbed me
again and he goes, did you hear what I said?
So I was very fortunate. Joe took me underneath his
wing and I went in there. I had to get stronger.
I got stronger with Joe. And you know, our opening game,
we were playing the Cleveland Browns and I was at
(06:25):
that time playing defensive end rather than defensive tackle. So
I lined up against Ozzie Knewsom and Ozzie and I
were friends from college, and you know, he had that.
You know, he would get down in that three point
stance and he'd be real low and he'd look up
at me and goes, hey, homie, how you doing. And
just as I answered him, they snapped the ball. He
(06:46):
hooked me and ran for fifteen yards. So I knew,
you know, that ain't That's not the way to do it.
And then the second game, we played New England and
we were down thirty five to three at halftime, and
we lost few fifty six to three. And it was
the worst beating I'd ever taken. And I got back
on the plane and you know, at that time, the
(07:07):
rookie sat in the middle of the plane and the
veterans were in the back, and I look in the
back and these guys are playing cards, drinking beer, smoking cigarettes,
smoking cigars, and I go, you know, aren't you guys embarrassed?
And that was welcome to the NFL. You know, don't
you don't get caught up in what we did last
(07:28):
week what we did this week, because the next.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Week you got to get ready to play again.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
And you know, we were able to turn it around
in the early eighties and started to get the leadership
that we needed and made it to an AFC championship
game down there in Miami, and we lost, you know,
fourteen to nothing. Richard Todd, who was so instrumental in
getting us there, had a bad day at quarterback. He
threw five interceptions. And you know the funny thing about it.
(07:55):
I was good friends with Richard because he played at Alabama.
And we went out to dinner the right after the
game a couple of days later.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
And his mom was there. And his mom was a Southern.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Lady, and out of nowhere, she goes, you know, I
love seeing Richard play football. No matter where he throws it,
somebody's going to catch it. I looked at Richard and
he goes, no, Mom, that's not the right thing to
say right now.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
So I've been fortunate enough being in Chicago, being on
some dominant defenses, right, you know the history of Chicago.
They're known for their defenses. You the New York sack Exchange,
phenomenal defense. What are some of your favorite memories being
on that?
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Well, it wasn't we'd go into a game. It wasn't
are we going to get to the quarterback? It was
how many times we were going to get there? How
many times we were going to hit them when you
have two edge rushers, one being Joe Klucko and the
other being Marks you know, you know, Abdulla and I.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
All we had to.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Do was type up the two guards in the center
because they couldn't double team both of them right, And
we had an excellent back seven. The linebackers were excellent.
The secondary gave us enough time.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
I love that, and you give them the dB some
some love. Well, you know what Russian cover. I appreciate that.
If they don't work hand in hand, it's not going
to work.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
And we were fortunate that that year we got sixty
six sacks and everybody got their share. But you look
at Mark and Joe, they were both in the twenties
and it's a moment you look back on and you're
very thankful that you were a part of.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
So number one. Who came up with the sack exchange?
I know, like you know the stock exchange is in
New York, Like, who came up.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
With you know what?
Speaker 1 (09:42):
I always thought it was Pepper Burrs, he was our
assistant trainer, but they actually ran a contest and somebody
thought of the New York Stock Exchange. Why don't we
say New York sack exchange, and then all of a
sudden it happened, and then we got a shoe deal
and everybody we were signing posters. And I believe that
(10:05):
in the beginning they only wanted two people. They only
wanted Joe and Mark. And Joe went to the people said,
you know what, and this is with the shoe contract,
said if you don't do all four of them, I'm out.
So actually, Joe Kleco negotiated my first shoe contract in
the NFL. Did you see that when I was there,
(10:31):
you were there. I told him not to do it.
It was it was, to be honest with you, it
was premeditated. Oh you know how when you go to
these shows you.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Have to.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
The whole brettfah well, you know, Brett Faarr filled down
and let straight I get the sack record. Oh you
broke Mark Gastino's record.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
He just like I saw.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
I was like, I think he's serious.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
He was serious. He was he was serious.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
You know how when you go to these shows, you
have X amount of items you got to sign in
the back, and then you got to sign for the public.
So I walked in that morning, Mark was signing some
of the items in the back. So I said to him, Mark,
how you doing you last night? You were a little tired.
How you feeling He goes, I'm feeling alright. He goes,
I can't wait till Brett Farv gets here. I'm going
(11:19):
to handship room, I go. He goes, yeah, I'm going
to hit him. You know, he took away my sack.
I go, Mark, what are you talking about? I said,
you can't do that. He goes, I'm going to do it.
I said, Mark, it's not going to be beneficial to you.
And all a sudden, Brett Farv walks by and I
see Mark's wife. They walk in there. I walk around
(11:41):
the backside just to make sure nothing was going to
happen somebody.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
And Mark said to him, Hey, you know what, you
hurt me. You hurt me. I want my sack back.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
And I'm looking at him like Brett Farv is looking
at him like, hey, WHOA what's going on here? And
it went down, and then I went over to talked
to Brett because I had met him when he was
playing with the Jets. I was doing the radio and
I apologized for Mark, and he said, man, I thought
I was going to have to throw down on him.
He goes, man, I looked in his eyes. Man, he goes,
(12:13):
he is lost, But Mark says he beats to his
own drum.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
I saw a story, and I can't wait to hear
your version of this. You were once penalized for given
a quarterback the business. That's what the referee didn't got
tell me what happened on the play, because I didn't
see the play. I just saw the penalty, and the
referee was very demonstrative in his whatever you were doing
(12:41):
to give him the business.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Well I was. You know.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
We were the build up between the Jets and Buffalo Bills,
you know, and we were aging out the defensive line,
and I think middle of the week Jim Kelly said
he wasn't worried about the pass.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Rush or anything.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
So in the first quarter he was going out of
bounds and I hit him, and he got up. He
threw the ball at me, and I went back. I
went back at Jim. I got my ass kicked because
I was on their sideline, and right before halftime he
rolled out through the ball.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
I hit him. I'm laying on top of them.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
He says some ugly things to me about being on
top of them and then I just started pounding them.
And the first thing I did after a sign of
respect to Jim, you know, it was something that happened
on the field. Yeah, you know, I didn't. I have
the utmost respect for Jim Kelly. I patted him on
the you know, the helmet. He patted me on the helmet,
and if you go back and you look at it,
(13:42):
I'm bleeding from I think it was this side, the
left hand, right hand side. And later I would find
out that Jim Kelly said that his index finger, he
would always leave that nail a little bit longer so
when he threw the ball he could spin it off
that nail. Well, he came through my face mask and
(14:04):
kind of cut me, and I just had him a
few times.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
I saw you guys pat each other on the helmet
though afterwards, So you guys made up very quickly. Oh no,
I and Jim Kelly's not the only guy quarterback that
keeps the nail. We found out Warner does the same thing.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
I didn't know that was it. I didn't either.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
And again, Jim Kelly, you know, Hall of Fame quarterback.
He could have been a Hall of Fame linebacker. He
had that same mentality, same as you know Phil Simms.
We used to love to play against the Giants because
Phil was so he was so vocal to his offensive
line if they missed the block and we would say, hey,
(14:42):
you know what, like billy Ard, don't take that man,
just open the gates.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
We'll take care of them, you know, but hopefully for
you all.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
So when you retired, you got in the radio. I've
done the radio utmost respect. It is something very difficult
to do. I don't think people know that you've been
doing and you did it. How did you get involved
with me in the Jets.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Well, I first started off in TV and doing college games,
and you're making five hundred dollars a game by the
time they take taxes out by time you travel. So
you do it to stay for me to stay visible
in the community, and then to see whether I really
liked it. And then I started working doing the Jets
(15:23):
TV show called Jet Journal, so you know, you're just taping.
They can cut, they can edit, you can do whatever
you want. And then the Jets radio job came up,
and I had built a resume where being a Jet
living in New York, you know, it was something to do.
And I remember working with al Chroldwick and he's from
(15:46):
MSG and NBC. He said, when you do radio, pretend
you're talking to a blind person. He said, you're painting
a picture.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
You don't always have to be right. Paint the picture.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
So I did for the Jets for twenty two years,
and unfortunately, you know, there was a time for a change.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
I went into a new role.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
But I always try to be respectful to the players
as a former player, but I had a responsibility to
the listener. If you missed a tackle, I had to
point that out. If you didn't hold containment, I had
to point that out to me. That's not being negative,
that's being honest. And you know, I had the pleasure
(16:27):
of working with Bob was Shuesen, who does a lot
of work with ESPN, and we enjoyed doing it. I
think we were complimentary to both. You have to have
that chemistry. You don't want to step on him. He
didn't want to step on me. And I really, I
really did enjoy I got to know the players a
little bit better, got to see the game differently too,
(16:50):
because you got to react real quick on what happened
on that play and being the color person, I was
just there to say why it worked, why it didn't work,
and why are you calling that play on third and
one and you're inside the twenty and you know what,
you have three All Pro players a guard and two
(17:14):
guards in the center, and why are you trying to
throw the ball?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Run it?
Speaker 1 (17:19):
It's you know, yeah, but it was fun and we
had an eighty five percent approval rate by the fans,
so I think the fans appreciated it. And again, everything
that I was doing up there in New York was
enabled me to stay visible with the community and with
the fans.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
What's one of the what's one of your favorite calls?
Speaker 2 (17:40):
That was exactly my favorite call.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
That's one of the best calls you've ever made.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Well, you got to remember the play by play guy
makes the best calls.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Well your analysis, Annalys.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
I remember when the Jets were playing Seattle and they
moved the ball right down the field and it was
like fourth and about six inches and they were inside
the five yard line, and then you had Nick Mangole
as a guard and you had two all Pro guards,
(18:11):
and I was saying that this is a perfect opportunity
to run the ball, and Eric Mangini was the head
coach and he kicked the field goal, and I just
couldn't understand it. Did you lose it a little bit?
Put it this way when they knocked on the door
and said, hey, you know what, let's cut it out
(18:32):
a little bit. But if you look at the way
the game played out the second half, they never crossed
the fifty yard line. You got to get points when
you can get points, but I'm telling you it was
less than less than six inches.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
You know you got.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
All you have to do nowadays is get the quarterback
to get one underneath the center and fall forward. You're
going to pick that up. And the Jets decided to
kick the field gold, which you know, to this day,
I don't think was the right move.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Were you there for the buff fumble? I was when
Mark Santez? Yes, Thanksgiving? Yes, So tell me what was
that like? I gotta know that.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Guess that call?
Speaker 2 (19:13):
It was New England scoring.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
I think they scored two touchdowns in less than fourteen seconds,
right they did? Yes, But you know Mark went to
hand off the ball and nobody was there. So he
went to run and New England had made the penetration
and he ran into the back of his offensive guard
and fumbled the ball. New England picks it up, they
(19:35):
run it in for a touchdown. Then the Jets kick off.
They fumbled the ball. New England picks it up and
they run it in again. You know, it was a
typical Thanksgiving dinner that the Jetskip just gave the Patriots.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
It was I think I want to listen today.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
I would look like when you're up there and you
see it, what I know, your guys making the call, But.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
What do you do? How do you just describe the
why to that?
Speaker 1 (20:03):
You know, Rom and I I you just look and
you're baffled. You go, I can't describe what just happened.
But for all you listeners, Mark just stuck the ball
up his offensive guards, but all fumbled.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
And you know, it was funny.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
It was funny now that you look backward, right, yeah,
But I can only imagine imagining in the booth, like,
how do I even explain what just happened?
Speaker 2 (20:30):
There's no way to explain.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
We're gonna take a short break and we'll be right back.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
Let's talk about what you did now post and it's
probably something you've been doing.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Had your little hands into.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
Already and that was Landtek where you guys either helped
build fields athletic facilities or you also I saw you
teamed up with Arthur Blank and you guys helped re surface,
helped level them back out, sorry, leveled it all the
some HBCU fields out in Alabama and in Georgia.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
I think what Arthur Blank did is tremendous to donate,
you know, the amount of money that he did. And
then the NFL got involved and they chose Lantek as
the contractor of choice. So we went down there and
looked at the facilities and it was a shame that
here it was in twenty twenty four athletes coming out
(21:28):
of these programs and nobody being able to update their facilities.
So we went down there. We took two synthetic fields
and redid those and put in new turf, and then
we took two natural grass fields and converted them over
to synthetic grass. But a lot of thanks to Arthur
(21:51):
Blank and the you know, historical Black colleges and university,
they need to be addressed by more owners because the
owners are pulling athletes out of their programs. But the
facilities are just they're really dated when I retired, I
went back. I tried to get into coaching three times.
(22:12):
One with Bruce Coslet, Sorry, you're too close to the team.
The second time was with Pete Carroll. He said, you
really don't want to coach. He goes, you want to
help this organization. Go to the PR department, tell us
how our players can get more active in the community.
They go, Pete, I don't have to tell people how
(22:32):
to do that. They have to want to do that.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
And then the.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Third time I tried was with Richie Kotype and you
know Richie when thank god I didn't get on that
staff because I would have been fired after two years.
He went one in fifteen, and then I think he
went three and thirteen, and.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Then on straight three.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
I went back to school and I got my security
license and spent five years over at Payne Weber. I
got my series sixty five, sixty three, all the license
went in there. Pretty successful there, but it's hard to
ask friends to give me your money so I can
invest it. And it was one of those Compliance also
(23:16):
came into play because I had outside activities that I
was making money doing speaking engagements, doing their Jets TV show,
and they wanted me to disclose how much money I
was making outside of pain WEAB and I said, no,
I'm not going to do that. And after five years
at pain Weab, I went to the Lantech Group. Lantech
(23:39):
they buildings, the design athletic fields. That's all they do,
athletic field construction, from building fields, tracks, bleachers, lights, you
name it, we'll do it. At that time, they were
probably six point two six point four million. In the
late two thousand and last year we close down at
(24:00):
just under three hundred million, so the company's growing. The
owners were young, energetic guys, and they said, Marty, you
know what we.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Need your help. You can.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
And the good thing about working with the Atlantic Group
is I could always schedule my meetings. If I'm meeting
with you two, I want to meet with you on Friday,
So you're going to ask me, okay, what can you
do to help me build a better facility. But you're
also going to say, has football fans, Hey, how about
the Jets this week?
Speaker 2 (24:31):
So I'm mixing one with the other.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
And if I don't meet with you on Friday, I'll
meet with you on Monday and then we'll talk about
what we can do to help your facility and then
they look at me and they go.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
What happened to the Jets? It's always what happened? You know?
Speaker 1 (24:46):
What are they going to turn this thing around? And
I go, you know what, be honest with you. You know,
I don't know. You know, it's difficult on the broadcasters
doing the same team and the team is out of
the playoffs by Thanksgiving. It's tough, and you always try
(25:07):
to stay positive. You always try to put the spin
on it. But I think that you know, you look
at the Jets. They got some guys that can really play,
but you're going to have to keep them. You know,
Sauce Gardner one of the best corners I've seen since,
Darrel Reeves one of the best wide receiver. You know,
Garrett Wilson, great, great young player. How are the Jets
(25:29):
going to keep them?
Speaker 2 (25:31):
You know, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
And that is the key. Now, how do you keep
the key players? And how do you spread the money around?
And how do you make everybody happy? I don't know
if it's possible to do that. They you know, they
try to shuffle the money in one direction and then
it comes to another. But when you're you, we all
know you have a limited time in the NFL, whether
(25:55):
it's your choice or their choice, and more than likely
it could be their choice. So you want to make
the money when you can, so there is no hometown
discount anymore. I don't care whether you drafted me in
the first round. You know I got I signed that
long five year contract, you know with or four year
with the option in the fifth. Yeah, the team and
(26:18):
then if you're not winning, you want to go someplace
to win.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
That's it, you.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Know, as arm said, did you played this game to win?
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:29):
And I tell you what herm Edwards was one of
the best guys I ever worked with. Up there doing
the TV show. I'd ask him a question and he'd
put that.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Leg up on the desk. He goes, come on, coach,
you know that. You know that.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
You know that guy ain't tough. You know he ain't
lining it up on Sunday. The honesty that they showed myself,
in the respect that they showed it was it was
like you and I having a conversation that comes Sunday.
You know what you can use and you know what
not to use. Yeah, And if you break that trust,
(27:06):
I'm not going to tell you anything else.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Going on in this season.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
Yeah, yeah, I want to pivot on something else. I
want some foundation work. I know Rom and I we
both have our foundations, and you do some of create,
excuse me, some incredible things with your foundation. I know
you help kids who are three to seventeen who are
battling or being diagnosed with a terminal illness.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Terminal illness or chronic life threatening disease. You know, I started.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
I started in nineteen eighty two. Yeah, we had just
come from the AFC Championship game, which we lost. My
oldest son was born on March fourth. Suddenly, my dad
passed away of a massive heart attack on March eighth.
A little boy that I was a big brother too,
passed away on March tenth, a matter of six days,
(27:56):
and Keith was only five and a half. He went
from the ultimate high to the old low. And I
really felt at that time God was punishing me. He
was saying, you know, I couldn't understand how you could
bless me with a son and then take away two
people I love. And I said, what am I doing wrong?
And a day would turn into a week, a week, two,
a month, and all of a sudden I woke up
(28:18):
one morning, I looked in the mirror and I didn't
like the reflection I was allowing death to to find
who I was. So I went to my roommate with
the Jets, Kenny Schroy, and I said, Kenny, you.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Know what I think.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
I'm going to start a foundation. Started a foundation for
termally ill children. And then I met with a guy
by the name of Bill Gibney. He was a former marine.
He said, I'll help you, but it's not a one
and done and I said, what do you mean a
one and done? He goes, You're going to continue to
do this throughout you know, your playing days, and then
(28:52):
when you're done playing, I would hope that you're going
to continue. And I said yeah, So first thing you
have to do is get licensed as a five o'
one nonprofit.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
I didn't have any money.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
So I decided to talk to my wife. I said,
you know what, all the speaking engagements I'm going to do,
I'm going to donate the money back and I would
be up there and we'd be brought to tears talking
about that week. And then I said, you know what,
I want to start a foundation for terminally ill children.
I want to give them their greatest wish in life.
(29:25):
I want to take their greatest wish and make it reality.
I want to make these kids feel important, even if
it's just for a day. I said, because I had
that feeling every time I ran out on a field
in Alabama, every time I ran out on the field
with the Jets. So I would tell the people, I
(29:45):
need your help, I need your help. I need you
to accept my mission as your mission, and let's do
it together. And I would walk out and somebody would
shake your hand and you'd feel that little talk and
they go.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
I hope this helps.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Pretty soon I had enough money for my first wish.
A seventeen year old boy named Steve and Stephen had
liphomia and he was so strong. We had a press conference.
Mister Hess who owned the Jets, my teammates, we were
there for the press conference, and unfortunately Steven passed away before.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
We could grant the wish.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
But now we were out there in the eyes of
the public. So fast forward. Here it is forty three
years later. We're now in fourteen states and we've raised
over forty four million dollars and we've helped over eighty
six hundred families, which tells you there's a lot of
(30:42):
kids out there that need our help. And the one
thing that I've learned from these kids is you know,
you don't have to fear dying if you believe in
God and you have faith, when you do die, you're
going to be rewarded. You're going to get to see
everything that you believed in. So it's been special. These
(31:03):
kids know that they're here for a reason, and for
some reason because maybe not they're not normal, maybe they're
in a wheelchair. People have a tendency not even to
listen to them, to walk right by them. But they
have a story and they wanted it to be heard.
(31:23):
They wanted to be told, so we're they allow the
foundation to do that. So I'm proud of of.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
The work everybody has accomplished.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
It's not money may be on it, but there's hundreds,
hundreds of people that have played their role, either been
a donor either been a volunteer. And I tell people,
if you don't have money, you don't have time, give
us your thoughts and prayers. God's going to answer your
prayer one day and give us back one that we
(32:00):
thought he should take, and that's going to be a
living example of proof that the work you're doing it
has meaning.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
So if somebody wanted to donate or volunteer, how could
they go about it?
Speaker 1 (32:14):
They just go to the Martin Llonsfoundation dot org and
you can go there. There's a number you can call
into the foundation. I have a staff of four people.
For I would say the first twenty five years, I
didn't have a single paid employee. Everything was done by
a volunteer. And then all of a sudden, I said
(32:37):
to the board, I said, you know what I believe
in the theory, if you want to make money, you
got to spend money. And I said, I think we
can do more for the kids that we want to
help if I get an executive director. So I hired
an executive director. Then I hired a wish coordinator, then
I hired an event coordinator.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
And with all those salaries that.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
We have, we're still able to get back eighty four
cents out of every dollar to the kids. So I'm
taking sixteen cents and building the staff.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (33:12):
Well, first of all, it's great, and I can already
tell how much that truly means to you, and how
like I said yesterday, Peanut, you liked it so much.
I'll say it again, once you're affected by something, you'll
become an advocate for it. And so you that's six days
in your life in nineteen eighty two changed your life
and you created this foundation. And then two short years
(33:32):
later you were recognized as the Man of the Year
and now it is called the Walter Payton Man of
the Year. How much pride do you take and that
being recognized is that one of the first ones to
get it, and what that award truly means and that
you were actually recognized, but we're actually getting to tell
the story of all these young people that you've got
to he.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Well, you know what, Romanete, I think when I accept
the award back then, and I'll say it again, it
might have had my name on it, but really it
was an award that was given to all the kids
from the foundation. I just happened to accept it on
behalf of them and all the volunteers. And that's the
way I've always looked at it, whether it has my
(34:14):
name on it or the foundation name. Those kids were
special and I just happened to be the one representing them,
so to be you know, Walter Payton meant so much
to the NFL, but he meant so much into the community.
When I received the award, it was the Miller Lte
Man of the Year. Yeah, you know, there wasn't many
(34:39):
of us that got it from Miller Lyte. And you know,
there was a few fringes that went with Miller like
to know. I got to go to quite a few
of their events, and you know, you could pull into
any distributorship and you get fifty cases of beer and
you have yourself a nice party. But it was nice
that it was nice that it was transferred over to
(35:01):
recognize somebody that meant so much to the NFL, not
just as a Hall of Famer, but as an individual
that took time to make sure he gave back.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
To the community.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
So as soon as they switched it over, I called
the NFL and I said, you know what, Mike Plaque
says Miller Lyte. We peeled it off and we put
Walter Payton on there.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
That's so good. Yeah, I like that. I like that.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
So we've asked this question to numerous guests on the
podcast Mount Rushmore. If you had your own personal Mount
Rushmore of people of influenced guidance and you get to
pick four who were those four people.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Being well, first, you you know, you pick pick God,
you know, because God blessed us all with the ability
to play the game of football, so the Good Lord
would be up there first. I think coach Bryant would
be up there because he influenced me. And then my parents, Oh,
(36:08):
they really sacrificed. Coming from a family of seven kids,
five boys h two girls. They believed in religion and education, athletics.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
I don't think one or the other or both ever
missed the game.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
With with with all of us playing, and I remember
going and watching my older brother, who was.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
An outstanding bath small player, went to West Point.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
I was six years younger than him.
Speaker 2 (37:11):
And I said, boy, he's pretty good. I want to
I want to be like him.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
Yeah, if I'm like him, I'm going to be good.
But if I'm better than him, I'm going to be recognized.
And then my other brother, Dan played the basketball at
boy Olli, but he was a football player. He was
two years in front of me. And as going to
(37:46):
a small Catholic school, you know, one a you got
maybe twenty eight thirty players, and you know, so they
would always move some of the freshmen up to the
varsity just during practice, so we would get our ass kicked.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
And my brother was one of those bodies. They needed
more bodies.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
They needed more bodies, and my brother was one of
the guys up there. So you know, I didn't love football.
I didn't have the passion for it. I didn't understand
the coaches that. You know what, We had a coach
by named Bill Kleier, and we used to run that
Hamburger drill. And that's when you have two dummies laying
(38:24):
on the ground, you have a linebacker, the quarterback hands
you the ball. You got to run it between the
two dummies. But this guy's coming straight at you, and
he knows exactly he knows it, and you got to
stay inside the dummy. Coach Clier grabbed me by the
face mask, and you know, he was said, you know,
there's nobody out here that can tackle you. I ran
(38:46):
on the ball in there, run it again, got smacked
the third time, Run it again, and he kept grabbing
me by the face mask. He says, you know what,
you got to remember, there's nobody that can tackle you. Well,
finally you get somebody and you run him over and
he grabbed you by the face of backs again. And
he goes, that's the way you got to think. Nobody
can run you, nobody can tackle you. Well, next morning,
(39:08):
my brother Dan got up and he says, come on,
we got to go to practice. I said, man, I quit.
He said, what do you mean you quit? I said,
Coach Clire, yes, hey, didn't even realize that. The first
three guys tackled me. And he kept telling me you can't.
Nobody out here can tacky. I don't need this. And
my brother Dan says, you know what, if you quit now,
(39:29):
you'll continue to quit the rest of your life. Now
get your ass out of bed. We're going to practice.
And he was right, and Coach Clier was right too,
because as a running back you got to have that
mentality nobody can tackle you. And then my sophomore year,
I had a coach named George O'Brien and he took
(39:50):
an interest in sending game films out to all the
colleges and said, hey, this kid can play. He saw
more in me than I saw him. I So my
junior year, you know, there was some recruits and you
talk about a small Catholic school and going, hey, you
know what, the coach from Florida State from Florida. Doug
(40:11):
Dickey is in the stand today watching, you know, Marty Lyons,
you know. And I didn't look at myself as somebody special.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
I could play.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
And then my senior year I started getting recruited and
went to a lot of the SEC schools, and a
lot of these schools are saying, hey, you know what,
you come here, you can start Wait a minute, there's
only thirty guys on my team. We're one A and
you're telling me I can start here at Tennessee. I
can start here at Florida. And then I went to
(40:41):
Alabama and I sat down with coach Bryant. Coach Bryant
was pretty honest. He said, son, he goes, we want
to give you a scholarship. He goes, I can't make
any promises, but if you're good enough to play, the
opportunity will be here. And that's why I chose Alabama
because all I wanted to do is have the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
And then as.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
You mature and you go through life, you realize that
that's what life is about, opportunities and choices.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
Some of us are going to make good choices.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
Some of us are going to make choices that aren't
going to be beneficial, but we learn from them, and
we have to keep reiterating to our children and the
people that we talk to, is have enough faith in
yourself that with every opportunity that presents itself, you're willing
to knock on that door. You don't have to stay
there long, but don't be afraid of opportunities. If you
(41:36):
have enough confidence in yourself and you believe in yourself.
If it doesn't work out, pick yourself up try again. Now,
the world we live in, it's not a perfect world.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
We all know where the mistakes are made.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
But we have to have enough confidence in ourselves to
tell the youth of today, which is the future of tommorrow,
to have an opinion, to be able to speak up,
to be respectful to those that don't agree with your opinion,
but don't let their opinion change who you are. Be yourself,
(42:14):
have confidence in yourself. And I enjoy talking and giving
that message to the kids. But the Mount Rushmore or
the four people that gave me that ability, that pushed me, yeah,
that picked me up, that are still with me today.
Speaker 3 (42:37):
Yeah, I appreciate that. We're going to take a short
break and we'll be right back. I appreciate you, but
we appreciate you being here.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
It's been my pleasure awesome.
Speaker 4 (42:51):
You have exceeded my expectations. I've already heard great things
about you in Tuscalosa as a former Alabama great and
legend yourself. And I know you just stayed up in
New York. We never got to get you back down South.
But you are thoroughly appreciated. Peena and I, like we said,
we really appreciated your amazing storyteller. And we could set
(43:12):
up here and have lunch and listen to you tell
just talk all day long because I'm all day long
stories and you tell them so passionately and beautifully as well.
And we appreciate your emotions, your candidness, your honesty, because
this is why we do this podcast. It's for you know,
for others to actually get to know who Marty Lyons is.
We only heard about you a name and in spirit
and get to hear your stories. It's been great to
(43:34):
listen to your journey.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
Well, I really appreciate you allowing me this platform. And
you know, the man of the Year in nineteen eighty four.
The further you got away from nineteen eighty four, the
more it met and for the NFL and and Kwan
Bolden to invite us back and give us that moment
(43:58):
again bring the awareness back to the surface that you know,
we're very blessed, we're very fortunate, and the NFL is
a brotherhood. It is, and that the brotherhood of helping
one another and caring about one another is really what
life's about. We're all here to play the game of life.
(44:20):
We're not here to just play football. And I think
that the people that the football players that can't make
that transition from being a football player back into life,
those are the ones that struggle because they're caught in
that you know, time zone of I'm a football player. Well, yeah,
(44:43):
you're a football player, but let me just remind you
you were a football player. You haven't played. I haven't
played or put on a uniform since nineteen ninety so
you're talking about, you know, thirty five years ago. But
the day I stopped playing football was the day that
life really started and you had credibility behind you.
Speaker 2 (45:09):
And it's been a special moment.
Speaker 1 (45:12):
And again coming back to this Super Bowl and an
Kwon raising the awareness of the foundation and all the
other people, all the other players that he recognized. I
think it speaks volume on who he is, and I
think it speaks volume on what the NFL wants their
(45:33):
players to represent and what their players who they are,
and the difference that they can make.
Speaker 2 (45:42):
We can all make a difference. All you have to
do is care, yes, sir, yes, sir. So I'll end
on that. Thank you, appreciate you, said Martin, but
Hosts And Creators
Charles “Peanut” Tillman
Roman Harper
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