President Donald Trump pardoned five former professional football players – one posthumously – for various crimes ranging from perjury to drug trafficking somewhat out of the blue on Thursday.
The pardons were announced by White House pardon czar Alice Marie Johnson. Ex-NFL players Joe Klecko, Nate Newton, Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry and the late Billy Cannon were granted the clemency.
‘As football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace, and the courage to rise again. So is our nation,’ Johnson wrote on X, as she thanked Trump for his ‘continued commitment to second chances.’
Johnson said Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones ‘personally’ shared the news with Newton, who won three Super Bowls with the team.
Klecko, a former New York Jets star and Pro Football Hall of Famer, pleaded guilty to perjury in 1993 after lying to a federal grand jury that was investigating insurance fraud.
A defensive lineman, Klecko was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2023. He was a two-time All-Pro and four-time Pro Bowler.
Donald Trump pardoned five former professional football players for various crimes Thursday
Nate Newton (left) was granted the clemency 25 years after pleading guilty to a federal drug trafficking charge, while Joe Klecko (right) pleaded guilty to perjury in 1993
Billy Cannon, who died in 2018, was also pardoned over counterfeiting charges in the mid-80s
Newton, an offensive lineman, pleaded guilty to a federal drug trafficking charge after authorities discovered $10,000 in his pickup truck as well as 175 pounds of marijuana in an accompanying car driven by another man in 2001.
As well as winning three Super Bowls at the back end of his career with the Cowboys, he was also a two-time All-Pro player and six-time Pro Bowler.
Lewis, formerly of the Baltimore Ravens and the Cleveland Browns, pleaded guilty in a drug case in which he used a cellphone to try to set up a drug deal not long after he was a top pick in the 2000 NFL draft.
The running back was named an All-Pro once and was a one-time Pro Bowler over the course of his career, in which he became Super Bowl champion with the Ravens in 2001.
Henry, who played for the Denver Broncos, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic cocaine in 2009 for financing a drug ring that moved the drug between Colorado and Montana. He was a running back for three teams and a one-time Pro Bowler.
And Cannon – who played with the Houston Oilers, Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs – admitted to counterfeiting in the mid-1980s after a series of bad investments and debts left him broke.
The halfback and tight end was a two-time All-Pro player and a two-time Pro Bowler. He also won the 1959 Heisman Trophy while starring for Louisiana State University, where he had one of the most memorable plays in college football history: an 89-yard punt return for a touchdown against Ole Miss. He died in 2018.
