Houston Sports - Jack Pardee

Jack Pardee

Born: April 19, 1936

Sport: Football (All-American, Pro Bowl, All Pro, 87-77 NFL coaching record, 22-11-1 NCAA coaching record, 23-13 USFL coaching record, 10-8 CFL coaching record, 14-6 WFL coaching record, Hall of Fame)

Happy Labor Day!  We're right in between the kickoff to college football and professional football, with the first real NCAA games last week and tonight representing the end of the first full slate of action, and the first NFL game taking place on Wednesday before an otherwise normal schedule next weekend.  I thought this might be a good time to turn the spotlight on a man who played and coached at both levels, and actually turned the trick of having a winning record in every league where he coached.  After a collegiate playing career that landed him in the hall of fame and a successful pro career that spanned 16 seasons, Jack Pardee became the first and only man to coach NCAA, NFL, CFL, WFL, and USFL teams, including three separate squads here in Houston between 1984 and 1994.  Let's turn our attention to a man who left his impact on numerous local teams throughout his award-winning career.

Pardee coached three teams and two different addresses from 1984-94

Although John Pardee was born in Iowa and didn't come to Texas until he was nine years old, the youngest son of Earl and Lameda's six children considered the Lone Star State his home.  Earl was a farmer but problems with rheumatoid arthritis led him to sell the farm and move to rural Tom Green County in Texas in search of a cure.  He continued working the land in the small community of Christoval, with young Jack helping alongside him as a teenager before trying his hand in the oilfield.  Christoval High School was not large enough for a full football team, so Jack played the six-man variation of the game and was so prolific as both a fullback and linebacker that he attracted the attention of several college coaches.  One of those men was Bear Bryant, who recruited Pardee after the young man accounted for 57 touchdowns during his senior season in 1952.  As a member of the Texas A&M football team as well as the school's Corps of Cadets, Pardee was one of the "Junction Boys", the 35 players (out of roughly 100 that started) that endured Bryant's legendary 1964 training camp in the rural West Texas town of that name that was just 90 miles from the Pardee home.  During his three-year collegiate career, Pardee saw the Aggies rise from a 1-9 record in 1954 to a 9-0-1 conference title season in 1956.  He served as a captain during that senior year and was named an All-American and earned All-Conference honors.  Decision-makers in the NFL took note of his skill set and when the 1956 NFL Draft took place the Los Angeles Rams took Pardee in the first round with the 14th overall pick.

As a professional, despite accounting for over 1,000 rushing yards as a college fullback, Jack Pardee settled into the linebacker position for the Rams.  Although his career may not have been the kind that would eventually be mentioned alongside the all-time greats, it was a solid run that had a few noteworthy moments.  In 1963 Pardee made it to the Pro Bowl and was voted to the All Pro team.  Two years later, after learning about former Astros pitcher Jim Umbricht who died from skin cancer in 1964, Pardee recognized the signs of melanoma on his arm and sat out for a year while recovering from its removal.  In 1971 he was traded along with five other veterans from the Rams to the Washington Redskins in a trade that was the first of its kind.  The new Washington coach, George Allen, had previously been in LA and preferred working with veterans.  To avoid dealing with rookies, therefore, he traded nearly all of the Redskins' draft capital for established players with whom he had a working relationship, including Pardee who saw playing in Washington as a welcome opportunity.  Rather than retiring, he willingly joined Allen and played for an additional two seasons before finally ending his career following the 1972 season.  After being a leader on the field, Pardee joined Coach Allen's staff for one season as an assistant, but with the creation of the World Football League he was given his first opportunity as a head coach.  The team was originally planned for Washington, D.C., but they couldn't work out an agreement to share a stadium with the Redskins so they tried unsuccessfully to move to Baltimore before settling on Norfolk, Virginia, as their home.  Before the team's first season, however, a new owner came forward to purchase the team and move them to Orlando, relocating Pardee and his players to the Sun Bowl for their only season.  Despite numerous headwinds, including his players not getting paid for several months at the end of the season, Pardee led the Florida Blazers to a 14-6 record before navigating them through the playoffs to the championship, where they lost the World Bowl by a single point.  When the new owner was arrested and charged with tax evasion and drug trafficking, the team was once again sold and relocated, but Pardee and a number of players refused to continue with the WFL.

Despite the fiasco, Jack Pardee had displayed his skill as a head coach, and before the start to the 1975 season the NFL's Chicago Bears hired him to lead their team.  For his first season, Pardee got to work with rookie Walter Payton, and by their third season together the Bears made it to their first postseason in 14 years.  When the Washington Redskins called in 1978, Pardee jumped at the chance to join his former team and he coached there for an additional three seasons.  In 1979 he was chosen as the AP Coach of the Year and came within a game of reaching the postseason before a late collapse against the Dallas Cowboys.  After a disappointing 6-10 season in 1980, Pardee was fired and subsequently spent one season as defensive coordinator for the San Diego Chargers.  In 1982, he surprisingly left football entirely, returning to his roots in Texas to work in the oil industry.  Pardee announced he had accepted an executive marketing position with a company dealing in drilling mud, and he relocated to Midland, Texas, for two years in the role.  But in 1984, the United States Football League approached Pardee to coach the Houston Gamblers.  With star QB Jim Kelly, the Gamblers used the "Run & Shoot" offense to humble defenses and put up big scoring numbers, with Pardee's two seasons at the helm resulting in a 23-13 record.  After making the playoffs both years but suffering close defeats, the team was purchased and merged with the New Jersey Generals, but the league wound up folding before the 1986 season could take place.  After one year away from the game, during which time he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, Pardee returned to Houston in 1987 to coach at the college level.  In three seasons at the University of Houston, he created one of the game's premier offensive teams that produced the first 1,000-yard offensive game, the first African-American Heisman winner in Andre Ware, and a bevy of other records.  Unfortunately, however, the Cougars were slapped with sanctions due to rules violations under the previous head coach, Bill Yeoman, and were blocked from being televised or making any bowl game appearances.  Pardee didn't want to continue working under that arrangement, so he was glad to accept the position to bring his game to the NFL once again while still remaining in the same town.  The Houston Oilers hired Pardee and he was coupled with QB Warren Moon to run the same high-flying offense that fans had seen at his previous two stops in Houston.  Racking up 43 wins and four playoff appearances in five seasons, Pardee more than made good on his end of the bargain, but he was unable to satisfy owner Bud Adams' desire to reach a Super Bowl, so after Moon was traded and the team limped to a 1-9 start to the 1994 season Pardee was fired.  In 1995 he became the head coach of the Canadian Football League's Birmingham Barracudas, part of an attempt for the league to expand into the US, and despite leading the team to a winning 10-8 record the attendance numbers did not justify the team's continuation and it folded after just one year.  It marked the end of Pardee's coaching career, and he retired to his home in Gause, TX, to be a cattle rancher and spend time with his growing family.  By the time he passed away in 2013, Pardee had been inducted into the Texas A&M University Athletic Hall of Fame (1969), Texas Sports Hall of Fame (1987), and Texas High School Football Hall of Fame (1988).

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