Martin A. Lyons (born January 15, 1957) is a former American Football defensive tackle who played his entire eleven year career from 1979 to 1989 with the New York Jets in the National Football League. He was part of the famed New York Sack Exchange, a dominant Jets front four in 1981 and 1982 that featured Mark Gastineau, Abdul Salaam, and Joe Klecko. Although Lyons is often known for the incident that ended Hall of Famer Dwight Stephenson's career, he is probably best known for giving Jim Kelly "the business," the descriptive personal foul penalty assessed by referee Ben Dreith. In 2002, Lyons was inducted into the Nassau County Sports Hall of Fame.
Lyons grew up in Pinellas Park, Florida and attended high school at St. Petersburg Catholic High School. He played college football at the University of Alabama where he was an All-American under legendary coach, Paul "Bear" Bryant. At Alabama, he had 202 tackles, 6 fumbles forced and 4 recovered; he also helped lead the Crimson Tide to a National Championship in 1978. Alabama was 31-5 during his years as a player. Lyons was drafted in the first round of the 1979 NFL Draft by the Jets.
Lyons finished his professional career playing in 147 career games; he had 45 quarterback sacks. Lyons founded the Marty Lyons Foundation which works with terminally ill children, providing them wishes. He won the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award in 1984 because of that work.
Lyons is currently the Jets radio analyst and chairman of the Marty Lyons Foundation.
Lyons is now living a happy life in New York with his wife Christine and his 3 children, Jesse, Megan, and Luke. His 4th child is in Alabama where he is becoming a doctor. His three children are very involved with sports and use Marty as a inspiration everyday.
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