President Donald Trump on Thursday pardoned five former players in the National Football League (NFL), including iconic Heisman Trophy halfback Billy Cannon and New York Jets Hall of Fame defensive tackle Joe Klecko.
The players are Klecko, Cannon, Nate Newton, Jamal Lewis, and Travis Henry, according to White House pardon czar Alice Marie Johnson.
She posted the news on X, saying:
As football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace, and the courage to rise again. So is our nation…Grateful to @POTUS for his continued commitment to second chances. Mercy changes lives.
Johnson also wrote a special thanks to Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones for personally sharing the news with Newton.
The New York Times profiled both the criminal background and NFL achievements of the pardoned players.
Halfback Billy Cannon, the 1959 Heisman Trophy recipient from Louisiana State University, later played in the American Football League and the NFL, where he was a two-time All-Pro during his 11-year career, playing with the Houston Oilers, the Oakland Raiders, and the Kansas City Chiefs through the 1960s.
Cannon’s 89-yard punt return in 1959 against Ole Miss in Tiger Stadium is one of the most famous plays in college football history.
Watch:
In 1983, Cannon pled guilty to his part in a currency counterfeiting operation, served three years in prison, and later became a dentist. He died in 2018 at the age of 80.
Klecko punished opponents from the defensive side of the game.
According to the Times:
Klecko, 72, a member of the New York Jets’ famed “New York Sack Exchange” defensive line, was convicted in 1993 and sentenced to three months in prison on charges related to bankruptcy fraud tied to a business venture following his Hall of Fame career. The legal issue did not involve violence but stemmed from financial misconduct during a difficult post-football transition in which he lied about false car insurance claims.
On the field, Klecko had 20.5 sacks in the 1981 season (although the NFL did not officially recognize sacks as a statistic until 1982) and was considered one of the most versatile linemen in the 1970s and 1980s. Klecko, who totaled 78 sacks in his 12-year career, was a four-time Pro Bowl selection, two-time All-Pro pick and 2023 Hall of Fame inductee.
All-Pro Nate Newton, 64, was the big and always-hungry offensive lineman in three Super Bowl championships with the Dallas Cowboys. He was sentenced in 2002 for drug trafficking offenses, including possession for sale of hundreds of pounds of marijuana.
Jamal Lewis, 46, was a punishing running back for the 2000 Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens, as well as grinding out 2,066 yards in 2003, the third highest total in NFL history. In 2005 he pleaded guilty using his phone to “facilitate a drug transaction.”
Travis Henry, 47, a Pro-Bowl running back who totaled more than 1,000 yards in three different seasons, played for the Buffalo Bills, the Tennessee Titans, and the Denver Broncos in the early to mid 2000s. He was sentenced in 2009 to three years on federal cocaine trafficking charges, ending a seven-year NFL career.
As of Friday, President Trump, an avid football fan, has not commented on the pardons.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of the Los Angeles crime novel Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more
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