John Perry Pardee (April 19, 1936 – April 1, 2013) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

and the only head coach to helm a team in

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

, the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

(NFL), the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

(USFL), the

World Football League The World Football League (WFL) was an American football league that played one full season in 1974 and most of its second in 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a worldwide stage, the farthest the ...

(WFL), and the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a c ...

(CFL). Pardee was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vo ...

as a player in 1986.

Playing career

As a teenager, Pardee moved to

Christoval, Texas Christoval is a census-designated place (CDP) in Tom Green County, Texas, United States. Its population was 504 at the 2010 census. It is part of the San Angelo, Texas, metropolitan statistical area. Geography Christoval is located at (31.197614 ...

, where he excelled as a member of the

six-man football Six-man football is a variant of gridiron football played with six players per team, instead of the standard 11 or 12. It is generally played by high schools in rural areas of the United States and Canada. History Six-man football was developed ...

team. He was an

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

Fullback at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M Unive ...

and a two-time

All-Pro All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list t ...

with the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC Wes ...

(1963) and the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) ...

(1971). He was one of the few six-man players to ever make it to the NFL, and his knowledge of that wide-open game would serve him well as a coach. Pardee was one of the famed Junction Boys, the 1954 Texas A&M preseason camp held in

Junction, Texas Junction is a city in and the seat of Kimble County, Texas, United States. Its population was 2,574 at the 2010 census. Geography Junction is located at (30.489772, –99.771335), about northwest of San Antonio and west of Austin in centra ...

, by football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. He was part of the 35 left from the approximately 100 players who went to Junction. After completing college at Texas A&M, Pardee was selected with the 1st pick of the second round (14th overall) in the 1957 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams as a

. Pardee played for the Rams from 1957 to 1970, sitting out the 1965 season to treat a malignant

melanoma Melanoma, also redundantly known as malignant melanoma, is a type of skin cancer that develops from the pigment-producing cells known as melanocytes. Melanomas typically occur in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye ( ...

in his left arm. Pardee was traded from the Rams to the Redskins in a multi-player deal during the first round of the

1971 NFL Draft The 1971 National Football League draft was held January 28–29, 1971, at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City, New York. The Boston Patriots, who did not officially change their name to New England Patriots until after the draft, used th ...

on January 28, 1971. He ending his playing career after two seasons with the Redskins at the end of the

1972 NFL season The 1972 NFL season was the 53rd regular season of the National Football League. The Miami Dolphins became the first (and to date the only) NFL team to finish a championship season undefeated and untied when they beat the Washington Redski ...

Coaching career

WFL

When the World Football League started in 1974, Pardee got his first head coaching job with the Washington Ambassadors. The team later relocated to Norfolk, Virginia as the Virginia Ambassadors before finally moving to their third and final home in Orlando as the

Florida Blazers The Florida Blazers were an American football team who played in the World Football League in 1974. The team moved to San Antonio in 1975 and became the San Antonio Wings. History The Blazers began in 1974 when oceanographic engineer E. Joseph Wh ...

. The Blazers made it to the 1974

World Bowl The World Bowl was the annual American football championship game of the World League of American Football/NFL Europe. The World Bowl was played each year from 1991 to 2007 (except 1993 and 1994). The game was conceived as the final of the NFL-r ...

and lost by one point to the Birmingham Americans. Pardee's regular-season coaching record in 1974 with the Blazers was 14–6, and 2–1 in the 1974 WFL Playoffs and World Bowl. This was all the more remarkable considering that the Blazers went unpaid for the last three months of the season. Some of the Blazers players relocated to San Antonio as the Wings for the 1975 season, and Pardee also moved on, signing on as head coach of the Chicago Bears for the 1975 season.

First stint as a Head Coach in the NFL

In 1975, Pardee was hired by the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine ...

as head coach. He spent the next three years there, leading Chicago to their first playoff berth in 14 years in 1977, before moving on to the

. In 1979, he led the Redskins to within one game of making the playoffs, but in the season's final week, they squandered a 13-point lead to the eventual NFC East champions

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

and missed the playoffs. He was fired after going 6-10 in 1980. In 1981, he was hired as assistant head coach in charge of defense for the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

USFL

In 1984, Pardee returned to his native Texas by becoming the head coach of the Houston Gamblers. The Gamblers played spring football in the

. The Gamblers had one of the most potent offenses in pro football, the run and shoot offense, with Jim Kelly as quarterback. The Gamblers merged with the New Jersey Generals in 1986, and Pardee was named head coach. With Kelly and Doug Flutie both vying for the role of starting quarterback, and

Herschel Walker Herschel Junior Walker (born March 3, 1962) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. He was also the Republican nominee in the 2022 United States Senate election in Georgia. ...

in the backfield, the Generals were poised to dominate the USFL, but the league folded prior to the 1986 season.

NCAA

Pardee returned to Houston in 1987 as head coach at the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

. During his three-year stint, the Cougars, using the same offense he coached in the USFL, produced the first-ever African American quarterback to win the

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and har ...

, Andre Ware. His team also became the first major college team in NCAA history to have over 1,000 total offensive yards in a single game, racking up 1,021 yards while beating SMU, 95–21. Not long after Pardee's arrival, however, Houston was slapped with crippling

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

sanctions due to numerous major violations under his predecessor,

Bill Yeoman William Frank Yeoman (December 26, 1927 – August 12, 2020) was an American college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Houston from 1962 to 1986. In his tenure, he became the winningest coach ...

. Among them, the Cougars were banned from bowl games in 1989 and 1990 and kicked off live television in 1989. As a result, most of the nation never got a chance to see the Cougars set numerous offensive records during the 1989 season.

Second stint as a Head Coach in the NFL

In 1990, Pardee packed up the run and shoot offense and moved across town, and back to the NFL, by joining the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 a ...

. He spent five years coaching a team which made the playoffs each of his first four years there, led by Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon. In 1991, the Oilers won their first division title since 1967 in the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

. It was during his time with the Oilers that Pardee fell victim to NFL notoriety during the 1992 season, when in that season's playoffs, the Oilers surrendered a 35-3 third quarter lead to the Buffalo Bills, losing in overtime to the eventual

conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

champions 41-38. The Oilers won another division title in 1993 on the strength of winning their last 11 games. However, after losing in the second round of the playoffs, owner Bud Adams made good on a threat to hold a

fire sale A fire sale is the sale of goods at extremely discounted prices. The term originated in reference to the sale of goods at a heavy discount due to fire damage. It may or may not be defined as a closeout, the final sale of goods to zero inventor ...

if they didn't make the Super Bowl. The highest-profile loss was Moon, who was traded to the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

. Without Moon, the Oilers were a rudderless team. Pardee was fired following a 1-9 start to the 1994 season, and was replaced by defensive coordinator Jeff Fisher.

CFL comes to America

He continued his coaching career in the

. In 1995, he was named head coach of the CFL Expansion Team, the Birmingham Barracudas. Canadian football is more wide-open than American football, with a field that has an additional 10 yards added to each endzone, as well as a 55 yardline and wider field. Birmingham owner

Art Williams Arthur T. Williams (September 29, 1939 – September 27, 2018), also known as Hambone Williams, was an American professional basketball player. A 6'1" guard from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Williams played seven seasons (196 ...

thought Pardee's roots in the six-man game made him a natural fit. The "Cudas" were part of a failed experiment to expand the CFL into the United States. With Matt Dunigan at quarterback, Birmingham made the playoffs, but lost in the first round. However, due to dreadful attendance late in the season and the league's refusal to approve the team's proposed relocation to

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is ...

, for 1996, the 'Cudas were shuttered at the end of the season along with the CFL's other American teams.

Return to coaching

In December 2007, Pardee, then 71, was contacted by athletic director Dave Maggard about the vacant head coaching job at the University of Houston. Signaling interest, he made it as far as a finalist for the position, but the school moved forward with

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

co-offensive coordinator Kevin Sumlin.Mark Schlabach
Yellow Jackets, Wolverines, Midshipmen earn high marks
ESPN.com, December 17, 2007.

Personal life

Pardee was married for 50 years to Phyllis Lane Perryman and had five children and 12 grandchildren. Pardee's youngest son, Ted, is the color commentator for the

Houston Cougars The Houston Cougars are the athletic teams representing the University of Houston. Informally, the Houston Cougars have also been referred to as the Coogs, UH, or simply Houston. Houston's nickname was suggested by early physical education instr ...

football radio broadcasts. In November 2012, Pardee was diagnosed with gallbladder cancer and it was reported by his family that he only had six to nine more months to live, The cancer spread to other organs and Pardee moved to a

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

hospice Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life b ...

. Pardee died April 1, 2013. The family has established a memorial

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholars ...

fund in Pardee's name at the

. He was survived by his wife Phyllis, five children, and 12 grandchildren. His grandson Payton Pardee is currently Tight Ends Coach at Texas A & M University-Commerce after playing Wide Receiver at the University of Houston. Jack's youngest grandson, Luke Pardee is currently a Quarterback at Texas Christian University ,

Head coaching record

USFL

College

NFL

CFL

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pardee, Jack 1936 births 2013 deaths American football fullbacks American football linebackers Birmingham Barracudas coaches Chicago Bears head coaches Houston Cougars football coaches Houston Oilers head coaches Los Angeles Rams players Texas A&M Aggies football players Washington Redskins head coaches Washington Redskins players National Football League defensive coordinators Florida Blazers coaches College Football Hall of Fame inductees Western Conference Pro Bowl players People from Audubon County, Iowa People from Tom Green County, Texas Coaches of American football from Iowa Players of American football from Iowa Coaches of American football from Texas Players of American football from Texas Deaths from cancer in Colorado Deaths from gallbladder cancer