A ROLLER-COASTER RIDE
A look back at Mark Gastineau’s career and post-NFL life:
1975: Earns All-America honors at Eastern Arizona Junior College 1977–78: Transfers to East Central Oklahoma State and records 27 sacks. 1979: Jets select Gastineau with the 41st pick in the NFL draft; marries his first wife, Lisa. 1981: Makes first Pro Bowl, tallying 20 sacks, which were not an official stat. 1984: Records a then-record 22 sacks, which stood for 17 years until Michael Strahan broke it in 2001.
1984: Found guilty of having beaten a 22-year-old waiter at Studio 54 before the 1983 season. Teammate Ken O’Brien is acquitted.
1985: Makes his fifth consecutive Pro Bowl.
1986: With the Jets one game away from the AFC Championship and holding a 10-point lead, Gastineau’s latehit on Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar leads to an overtime loss. He separates with his wife that year when she became aware of his affair with actress Brigitte Nielsen.
1987: Becomes first Jet to cross the picket line during the players’ strike.
1988: Records seven sacks in seven games in final NFL season. Finishes with 107.5 sacks, a Jets record. Announces he’s engaged to Nielsen.
1988: Says he’s retiring because Nielsen has cancer.
1990: Signs a two-year deal with the BC Lions of the CFL, but lasts just four games because of injuries. Breaks off his engagement with Nielsen.
1991: Begins career in boxing, compiling a 15-2 record over five years.
1991: Judge sacks Gastineau for 85 weeks of back child support, finalizing his stormy 4¹/ 2- year divorce case.
1993: Convicted on drug possession after picking up a package of about 200 amphetamines.
1998: Pleads guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge for hitting his wife, Patricia Schorr.
2000: Spends 11 months in Rikers Island for repeated parole violations.
2000: Admits to anabolic steroid use.
2010: It’s revealed Gastineau fathered a son with Nielsen and kept the boy a secret from his daughter, Brittny, for 20 years.
2012: Inducted into the Jets Ring of Honor.