The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former Jets star keeps granting wishes to kids
Marty Lyons has granted more than 8,000 wishes.
Marty Lyons’ mission, 38 years and counting, has been to fulfill wishes of children facing terminal or life- threatening illnesses.
NEW YORK — Marty Lyons fights back tears and clears his throat nearly every time he mentions the children who are no longer here.
The former New York Jets defensive lineman and longtime team radio analyst has seen way too many youngsters enter his life and then die from cancer and other illnesses.
“I mean, these are little kids, but the pain that their families endure for the rest of their life is, sometimes it’s unbearable because there’s always going to be a missing face,” Lyons said during a telephone interview. “There’s always going to be a birthday to celebrate.”
Lyons has been on a mission, 38 years and counting, to fulfill the wishes of children between the ages of 3 and 17 who have been diagnosed with a terminal or life- threatening illness. He started the Marty Lyons Foundation in 1982. The nonprofit has granted more than 8,000 wishes and raised more than $ 35 million while growing to 10 chapters in 13 states.
Lyons, 63, has a new book called, “If These Walls Could Talk: Stories From The New York Jets Sideline, Locker Room and Press Box.” Along with recollections of his playing and broadcasting career, it’s packed with stories about the young children he has met during his mission.
“I wanted to make sure that the readers understood that there was more to me than being a football player,” said Lyons. “Certainly, I appreciate it and I’m very humbled and honored to be a part of the Jets organization, and I loved every minute of it. But there is nothing more important than me telling crossover stories about kids that have lost their lives at an early age because of cancer.”
Lyons signed over all of the proceeds he gets from the book directly to his foundation, which was started after the most emotionally tough week of his life.
His oldest son, Rocky, was born March 4, 1982, and Marty’s father was making plans to fly to New York to meet his grandson. Leo Lyons never made the trip, dying at 58 of a heart attack March 8. While attending his father’s wake in Florida two days later, Lyons called home and received the news that Keith, his little brother in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, died of leukemia just two months shy of his sixth birthday.
“So, in a matter of six days, I was challenged,” Lyons recalled. “I kept asking myself, what am I doing wrong in life? Why would God do this to me? And the more I asked why me, the more I learned to understand I was actually saying, why not somebody else?”
But Lyons didn’t want anyone to feel the pain he was experiencing. So he approached Jets teammate Ken Schroy about what he could do to make more of a difference.
From there, the Marty Lyons Foundation was born, and the two continue to brighten young children’s days by granting wishes — a visit to Disney World, celebrity meet- and- greets, a computer, a swimming pool — and being there for their families during the darkest of times.
“He takes that passion from his playing days and switched it to a passion for the children,” said Schroy, a former safety who was Lyons’ Jets teammate from 1979 to 1984.
“And Marty, he just wears his heart on his sleeve. He always did. He’s just an amazing man.”
The coronavirus pandemic has hampered the Marty Lyons Foundation’s abilities to grant as many wishes as it usually does. It’s holding a virtual silent auction, called through its website, martylyonsfoundation.org, through Dec. 11 to help raise funds to fulfill more wishes.
Lyons is quick to deflect credit for his foundation’s work. His staffers, friends and volunteers have helped him build it to what it is today. His book has allowed him to recognize them.
“I’ve had people reply back: ‘ When I read the book, I found myself laughing and I found myself crying, and at the end of the book, I found myself inspired,’” Lyons said. “I know for me writing it, it was an emotional roller coaster.”