President Donald Trump has issued federal pardons to five former NFL players, including Hall of Fame defensive tackle Joe Klecko.
“As football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace, and the courage to rise again. So is our nation,” White House pardon czar Alice Marie Johnson wrote via X on Thursday, February 12.
Trump, 79, also pardoned Nate Newton, Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry and the late Billy Cannon.
Johnson, 70, added that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones delivered the news personally to Newton, 64. The former guard won three Super Bowls with the Cowboys during his tenure from 1986 to 1998.
“I’m holding Nate’s pardon in my hands today,” Johnson continued. “What a blessed day.”
She also thanked Trump, who is an avid sports fan, for giving the former athletes a second chance.
“Grateful to @POTUS for his continued commitment to second chances,” Johnson wrote. “Mercy changes lives. 🙏🏽.”
Klecko, 72, played most of his career with the New York Jets, who retired his No. 73 in 2004. He pleaded guilty to perjury in 1993 after lying to a federal grand jury amid an insurance fraud investigation. Klecko served three months in prison.
Newton pleaded guilty to a federal drug trafficking charge in 2002 after police found $10,000 in his truck, along with 175 pounds of marijuana in an accompanying car driven by someone else. He served 30 months in prison.
Lewis, 46, played seven seasons with the Baltimore Ravens and two with the Cleveland Browns. His arrest came shortly after Baltimore selected him fifth overall in the 2000 NFL Draft when he was found to have used a cellphone to try and set up a drug deal. He was arrested in 2004 on charges of conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute five kilograms of cocaine and using a cellphone to facilitate it. He served four months in prison.
Henry, 47, a former Pro Bowler and national champion at the University of Tennessee, was arrested in 2008 for his role in a drug trafficking ring. He accepted a plea deal for the charge of conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute and was sentenced to three years in prison. He served two years before his release after completing a drug program behind bars.
Cannon, who died in 2018 at age 80, was implicated in a counterfeiting scheme in the 1980s in which he printed $6 million. He pleaded guilty to charges of possessing and dealing counterfeit money, serving two and a half years of his five-year prison sentence.
This isn’t the first time Trump has pardoned a former professional athlete. In November 2025, he pardoned eight-time MLB All-Star Darryl Strawberry for a tax evasion charge from 1995. He served six months of home confinement and two years of probation.
“Mr. Strawberry served time and paid back taxes after pleading guilty to one count of tax evasion,” the White House told Fox News in a statement at the time. “Following his career, Mr. Strawberry found faith in Christianity and has been sober for over a decade — he has become active in ministry and started a recovery center which still operates today.”
