The greatest six-man football player of all-time passes away today
http://www.chron.com/sports/article/Tex ... 401134.php
Jack Pardee, a legend of Texas football from the six-man playing fields of Christoval to the barren wasteland of Junction to the Astrodome in Houston, has died of cancer, his family disclosed today.
Pardee, 76, was diagnosed with terminal gall bladder cancer in November.
"My dad was committed to football, but he was always close to his family," Pardee's son, Ted Pardee, said. "He had a lot of love to give. He was a sweet guy who was never afraid to give us a hug and kiss. He fought a tough battle, and we're going to miss him."
Pardee recently moved to a hospice facility in a Denver suburb, where two of his daughters reside.
Pardee's family moved to Texas from Iowa in the mid-1940s so his father, Earl, could receive treatment for rheumatoid arthritis in Christoval's mineral baths. Pardee scored 57 touchdowns for the town's regional six-man champions in 1952 and then played three seasons for Texas A&M, enduring coach Bear Bryant's infamous training camp in Junction in 1954 and winning all-Southwest Conference honors in 1956. He then played for the Rams and Redskins, with a two-year break in 1965-66, from 1957 through 1972, winning NFC Defensive Player of the Year honors in 1972.
He went on to coach the World Football League's Florida Blazers (1974), the Chicago Bears (1975-77) and Redskins (1978-80) and, in 1984-85, the run-and-shoot Houston Gamblers of the United States Football League, winning coach of the year honors in 1984. After the USFL disbanded, he succeeded Bill Yeoman at UH, where quarterback Andre Ware won the 1989 Heisman Trophy, from 1987 through 1989.
In 1990, he returned to the NFL with the Oilers, leading the team to the playoffs in his first four seasons before losing his job following a 1-9 start in 1994. His career NFL coaching record is 87-77.
Pardee is a member of the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame, the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and the National Football Foundation College Football Hall of Fame.
Pardee was diagnosed in 1965 with a malignant melanoma in his left arm and on his 28th birthday underwent an 11-hour surgical procedure that included chemotherapy, a complete blood transfusion and a procedure that lowered his body temperature to 86 degrees. He recovered and returned to the NFL, completing a 15-year career in 1972, and other than a recurrence in 1986 that was treated with minor surgery but no chemotherapy had been in good health ever since.
The family requests that memorial contributions be made to The Jack Pardee Memorial Scholarship Endowment in the Department of Athletics at the University of Houston, where Pardee coached from 1987 through 1989.
"When my father was diagnosed back around Thanksgiving, we were able to have many great conversations about the past and the future. One conversation was around what his lasting legacy would be," Ted Pardee said through e-mail. "He truly loved the time spent at the University of Houston and wanted to find a way to help a deserving, hardworking, dedicated athlete who might not have the means to pay for their own college tuition.
"He could have offered his name to a lot of different charities or scholarship funds, but this was what my dad wanted to do."
http://www.chron.com/sports/article/Tex ... 401134.php
Jack Pardee, a legend of Texas football from the six-man playing fields of Christoval to the barren wasteland of Junction to the Astrodome in Houston, has died of cancer, his family disclosed today.
Pardee, 76, was diagnosed with terminal gall bladder cancer in November.
"My dad was committed to football, but he was always close to his family," Pardee's son, Ted Pardee, said. "He had a lot of love to give. He was a sweet guy who was never afraid to give us a hug and kiss. He fought a tough battle, and we're going to miss him."
Pardee recently moved to a hospice facility in a Denver suburb, where two of his daughters reside.
Pardee's family moved to Texas from Iowa in the mid-1940s so his father, Earl, could receive treatment for rheumatoid arthritis in Christoval's mineral baths. Pardee scored 57 touchdowns for the town's regional six-man champions in 1952 and then played three seasons for Texas A&M, enduring coach Bear Bryant's infamous training camp in Junction in 1954 and winning all-Southwest Conference honors in 1956. He then played for the Rams and Redskins, with a two-year break in 1965-66, from 1957 through 1972, winning NFC Defensive Player of the Year honors in 1972.
He went on to coach the World Football League's Florida Blazers (1974), the Chicago Bears (1975-77) and Redskins (1978-80) and, in 1984-85, the run-and-shoot Houston Gamblers of the United States Football League, winning coach of the year honors in 1984. After the USFL disbanded, he succeeded Bill Yeoman at UH, where quarterback Andre Ware won the 1989 Heisman Trophy, from 1987 through 1989.
In 1990, he returned to the NFL with the Oilers, leading the team to the playoffs in his first four seasons before losing his job following a 1-9 start in 1994. His career NFL coaching record is 87-77.
Pardee is a member of the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame, the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and the National Football Foundation College Football Hall of Fame.
Pardee was diagnosed in 1965 with a malignant melanoma in his left arm and on his 28th birthday underwent an 11-hour surgical procedure that included chemotherapy, a complete blood transfusion and a procedure that lowered his body temperature to 86 degrees. He recovered and returned to the NFL, completing a 15-year career in 1972, and other than a recurrence in 1986 that was treated with minor surgery but no chemotherapy had been in good health ever since.
The family requests that memorial contributions be made to The Jack Pardee Memorial Scholarship Endowment in the Department of Athletics at the University of Houston, where Pardee coached from 1987 through 1989.
"When my father was diagnosed back around Thanksgiving, we were able to have many great conversations about the past and the future. One conversation was around what his lasting legacy would be," Ted Pardee said through e-mail. "He truly loved the time spent at the University of Houston and wanted to find a way to help a deserving, hardworking, dedicated athlete who might not have the means to pay for their own college tuition.
"He could have offered his name to a lot of different charities or scholarship funds, but this was what my dad wanted to do."
