The last time I saw Joe Klecko we had this exchange after Dan Klecko’s last game.

“Now, Joe, just because Dan is graduating, that doesn’t mean you can’t stop tailgating with us next year,” I said.

“No, Mike, I will definitely be back for a couple of games,” Joe said.

Life must have gotten in the way because Joe–to the best of my knowledge–never made a Temple game again.

The next time I will see Joe is on Aug. 6, 2023, the day the first ex-Temple football player ever will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I plan on going to his induction ceremony in Canton (God-willing) as he was officially inducted into the Hall of Fame Thursday night. Preliminary plans for a bus trip are in the works.

Hopefully, I can push my way to the front of the line and shake his hand.

I probably will not mention our last exchange but tell him the tailgate is still going strong.

Me and Joe go back a long way. I was in Norm Kaner’s Sports in America Class at Temple sitting behind Joe. To my left was Steve Joachim, who won the Maxwell Award as the best College Football Player in the country in 1974. Steve was a senior. Joe and I were sophomores.

That was a fun class. We had a lot of laughs.

Norm would always say Temple is Harvard on the Delaware.

Joe was drafted in the sixth round of the 1977 NFL draft by the New York Jets. Steve was drafted in the seventh round by the Colts.

It was one of the electives you took to skate through school. That’s why half the football team was there. Hell, that’s why I was there.

I thought about Joe last night not only because of his induction into the Hall of Fame but because of the many great ex-Temple players who never got the chance to do what Haason Reddick and Shaun Bradley are doing now.

Playing in a Super Bowl.

To me, the GOAT of Temple football is Paul Palmer and even he never got a chance to play in a Super Bowl.

In fact, according to the NFL Network, 94.3 percent of the players who logged time in the league never played in the Super Bowl.

So we hope Haason and Shaun make the most of their opportunity.

We know they will like both Steve Watson did for the Broncos and Anthony Anderson did for the Steelers. Anderson’s one-time teammate, former Temple wide receiver Randy Grossman, has four Super Bowl rings after being converted to a tight end by Chuck Knoll.

This is how great Wayne Hardin was. Temple was 18 points away from an unbeaten untied season in 1978 and 17 points away from an unbeaten untied season in 1979. Can you imagine if Temple went 11-0 in back-to-back football seasons? Anderson and Watson were stars of the 77-78 squads and Steve Conjar and Mark Bright led the No. 17-ranked 1979 team.

Many years later, Reddick and Bradley continued their legacy.

They are like so many other ex-Temple players, a special kind of tough.

Temple TUFF.

Monday: Tweaking a Tradition