Mark Gastineau

Lore & Background

A member of the Jets' New York Sack Exchange defense, Gastineau was named Defensive Player of the Year in 1982 and was the first player to lead the league in sacks in consecutive seasons. He also received five Pro Bowl and four first-team All-Pro selections. At the time of his retirement, he held the single season sack record. For his accomplishments in New York, Gastineau was inducted to the Jets Ring of Honor in 2012.

Reader's Guide

Gastineau entered Eastern Arizona Junior College in 1975 and earned All-America honors in his first season. He transferred to Arizona State University, and spent just one season playing defensive end there before finally settling upon then NAIA school East Central Oklahoma State University, now East Central University, in Ada, Oklahoma. He had 27 quarterback sacks in his college career, and earned Outstanding Defensive Lineman honors for the North in the 1979 Senior Bowl.

Gastineau became ECU's first-ever draft pick when the New York Jets selected him in the second round of the 1979 NFL draft. Connie Carberg, the first female NFL scout in history, was credited with helping the Jets discover Gastineau. He was projected to be an eighth round draft pick at the time, but due to his performance in the Senior Bowl and other pre-draft processes, the Jets selected him in the second round. Gastineau made the Pro Bowl five straight seasons (1981–1985) and finished his ten-year career with 74 officially recorded sacks.

He was a First-team All-Pro in 1982–1984 and was consensus All-AFC in each of those years. In New York, Gastineau was a key part of the famed 'New York Sack Exchange', the Jets defensive line that also included Joe Klecko, Marty Lyons and Abdul Salaam. The four combined for 66 sacks in 1981, including 20 by Gastineau, to lead the Jets to their first playoff game since 1969. He was second-team All-Pro in 1981 as well as being consensus All-AFC.

In November 1981, he, Klecko, Lyons, and Salaam were invited to ring the ceremonial opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, which served as the inspiration for their nickname. With Klecko rupturing the patella tendon in his right knee in the second game of the strike shortened 1982 season against the New England Patriots, Gastineau became the new unofficial leader of the 'Sack Exchange'. Though he was often double-teamed, he finished the season with six sacks, and was voted the NFL Defensive Player of the Year by NEA (and awarded the George Halas Trophy).

The Jets made the playoffs again in 1982, losing the AFC Championship game to the Miami Dolphins. The 1983 season started with Gastineau and the Jets' first round pick of the 1983 NFL draft, quarterback Ken O'Brien, being arrested and charged with assault at Studio 54.