Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer)

In 1974, a kid from a small Catholic high school in Florida that only had about 28 football players on the entire team, left those kind of confines to come to Tuscaloosa, play in front of thousands of fans in the stands and millions on television. "It was all kind of breathtaking." Marty Lyons said of his first initial games. And he had a co-heart to spend his college days with him, another kid from Florida, Barry Krauss. Lyons worked hard and mostly kept out of trouble, Krauss his best buddy, usually was chasing women and finding trouble. They thought of themselves as Starsky and Hutch, but Ken Donahue, Alabama's defensive coordinator called them Mutt and Jeff, a reference to an old comic strip. Each were key contributors to the famous "Goal Line Stand" against Penn State. Lyons stopped them on one play and Krauss on the final play with help from Murry Legg. That won the Tide another national championship.

Lyons went on from the Tide's defensive line to the New York Jets where he played his entire 11-year professional career. Lyons was quick to give the credit to his success to Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant who taught him much more than football. Lyons is currently the Jets radio analyst and chairman of the Marty Lyons Foundation, that works with terminally ill children, providing them wishes. He has been previously enshrined in the State of Alabama Hall of Fame (2000), Suffolk and Maryland Sports Hall of Fame (2004) and the Tampa Bay Sports Club Hall of Fame (2007).

Lyons and his wife, Christine, have three children. Rocky, his only child from his first marriage, is a physician in Alabama.