President Donald Trump pardoned five former NFL players on Thursday for crimes ranging from drug trafficking to counterfeiting.
Among those pardoned was former New York Jets Hall of Fame defensive tackle Joe Klecko, and star Houston Oilers and Oakland Raiders halfback Billy Cannon, who died in 2018, Trump’s pardon czar Alice Marie Johnson announced. The other three former players granted clemency were Dallas Cowboys offensive tackle Nate Newton, Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens running back Jamal Lewis, and Buffalo Bills running back Travis Henry.
“As football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace, and the courage to rise again. So is our nation,” Johnson said, adding, “Grateful [President Trump] for his continued commitment to second chances. Mercy changes lives.”
Johnson also thanked Cowboys owner Jerry Jones for “personally sharing the news with Nate Newton.”
All of the former players pardoned by Trump had already served prison sentences. The president’s pardons now clear their criminal records.
Klecko, who was part of the Jets’ early 1980s defensive line nicknamed the “New York Sack Exchange,” served three months in prison in the early 1990s after committing perjury before a federal grand jury during an investigation into insurance fraud.
Cannon, who was a Heisman Trophy winner at LSU in 1959, was convicted in 1983 for his part in one of the largest counterfeiting schemes in American history at the time. He served three years of his five-year prison sentence and was released on good behavior. Cannon died in 2018 at the age of 80.
Newton, a three-time Super Bowl champion who was part of the Cowboys’ incredible run in the 1990s, was first arrested in 1991 for allegedly setting up illegal dog fights. A decade later, Newton was arrested after a traffic stop when Texas authorities discovered $10,000 in his pickup truck as well as 175 pounds of marijuana in a vehicle that he was accompanying. Newton took a plea deal and served a 30-month prison sentence after he faced up to 20 years in prison.
Lewis, who helped the Ravens win Super Bowl XXXV in 2001 as a rookie and was the youngest player to play in a Super Bowl, served four months in prison on drug charges after his conviction in 2005. Just months after he was drafted No. 5 overall in 2000, Lewis attempted to set up a drug deal. He entered a plea deal in 2005, which resulted in drug conspiracy and attempted cocaine possession charges against him being dropped.
Henry, a former running back, was drafted by the Bills in 2001 and also spent time playing for the Tennessee Titans and Denver Broncos. Shortly after retiring from the NFL, Henry was arrested by the Drug Enforcement Administration and accepted a deal, which saw him plead guilty to conspiracy to traffic cocaine and was sentenced to three years in federal prison. Henry — who fathered 11 children with 10 different women — was also arrested in 2009 after he failed to pay child support.
Trump recently sparked controversy with his pardon of a former Honduran president who was convicted of helping drug smugglers import 400 tons of cocaine into the United States. In December, Trump allowed Juan Orlando Hernandez to walk out of a federal prison, saying that “according to many people that I greatly respect,” Hernandez was “treated very harshly and unfairly.”
