The New York Times and other media outlets have reported that Jack Pardee, Hall of Fame linebacker for Texas A&M and former head coach of the University of Houston Cougars, has passed away at age 76. Pardee, who had a long and distinguished career as a player and as a coach at both the college and professional levels, was also the only head coach to lead teams in college football, the National Football League, the United States Football League, the World Football League, and the Canadian Football League. He began his playing career in 1954 at Texas A&M as one of Paul "Bear" Bryant's "Junction Boys," a group of 35 players out of 100 prospects that successfully endured a brutal 10-day training camp at Junction, Texas. After three years at A&M, Pardee would go on to play for the Los Angeles Rams between 1957 and 1970 (he sat out the 1965 season because of melanoma) and with the Washington Redskins (1971-1973).
After Pardee finished his playing career, the Chicago Bears hired him in 1975 as their head coach. He served in that position for three seasons until the Washington Redskins hired him for the same position in 1978. Unfortunately, Washington fired Pardee after the 1980 season after his team accumulated a 6-10 record. Pardee ultimately returned to the NFL in 1990 as head coach of the Houston Oilers (now the Tennessee Titans). Between 1990 and 1994 Pardee's Oilers made the playoffs for four years in a row, a feat made possible by Hall of Fame Quarterback Warren Moon. The Oilers fired Pardee after the 1994 season after that team finished 1-9 in the regular season.
Despite some difficult years in the NFL, Pardee had a lot of success during his brief tenure as head coach at the University of Houston (1987-1989). Prior to his appointment, Houston had finished the 1986 season with a 1-10 record and the program had been sanctioned by the NCAA for numerous recruiting violations that occurred under head coach Bill Yeoman. Still, Coach Pardee accumulated a 22-11-1 record by employing the Run-and-Shoot offense that enabled the Cougars, led by quarterback and future Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware, to lead the country in both total offense (624.9 yards per game) and passing offense (511 yards per game) in 1989. Jack Pardee is survived by his wife of more than fifty years, Phyllis, his five children and twelve great-grandchildren.
More information about the life of Coach Pardee can be found at the following websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Pardee
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/03/sports/football/jack-pardee-texas-am-star-and-nfl-coach-dies-at-76.html?ref=obituaries&_r=0
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/former-oilers-cougars-coach-aandm-player-jack-pardee-dead-at-76/2013/04/01/ff4bc664-9b28-11e2-9219-51eb8387e8f1_story.html
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