Texas football legend Jack Pardee dies at 76

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Jack Pardee's life in football took him from Christoval's South Concho River to Junction's parched playing fields to the Los Angeles Coliseum to the nation's capital to the Astrodome and points beyond.

And at each stop, he left classmates, teammates and friends who remembered him Monday, on the occasion of his death at age 76 from cancer, as a teammate to be admired, a coach to be respected and a friend to be cherished.

"I met him when I was a freshman in college, and he was a prince of a guy," said Dennis Goehring, also a member of the exclusive fraternity that was Paul "Bear" Bryant's Junction Boys at Texas A&M in the 1950s. "And he never changed. He was always a prince of a guy."

Even among the long list of Texas football legends, Pardee's story ranks in rarefied air. He was a six-man football champion, a member of the A&M team Bryant held closest to his heart, an All-Pro linebacker for the Los Angeles Rams and Washington Redskins and a Coach of the Year at every level he plied his trade in college and the pros.

Family members disclosed his death Monday in Centennial, Colo., a Denver suburb, from gall bladder cancer. He was diagnosed in November and moved with his wife, Phyllis, to Colorado to spend his final days.

"My dad was in a lot of pain near the end, and it was time for the Lord to take him," said his son, Ted Pardee. "He was committed to football, but he was always close to his family.

A hard-nose player on both sides of the football. Remains among school's top career rushers with 1,017 yards. A key member of Bear Bryant's Junction Boys. A hard-nose player on both sides of the football. Remains among school's top career rushers with 1,017 yards. A key member of Bear Bryant's Junction Boys. Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Texas football legend Jack Pardee dies at 76 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

"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."

Tributes: Warren Moon and others mourn Pardee

He will be best remembered in Houston for his years as head coach of the USFL's Gamblers, where his players included future Hall of Famer Jim Kelly; the University of Houston Cougars, where he coached Andre Ware to the 1989 Heisman Trophy; and the Oilers of the run-and-shoot era of the 1990s.

But his life in Texas started at the other extreme from the high-profile NFL.

Went to Aggieland

Pardee was born in Iowa but came to Texas in the 1940s when his father, Earl, who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, sold the family farm and moved to Texas in search of a cure.

That search led to Christoval, 20 miles south of San Angelo, which was known for its mineral baths. At 6 feet 1 and 210 pounds, Pardee became a giant of six-man football, scoring 57 touchdowns for the school's 1952 regional championship team.

Recruited by coach Ray George to attend Texas A&M, Pardee elected to remain an Aggie when George left after the 1953 season. He was one of several dozen players that Bryant took with him to the 1954 training camp in drought-ravaged Junction, and he endured to become an All-America performer. He was selected in 1986 to the College Football Hall of Fame.

"If you think of all the players from Texas who went on to be great pros and All-Americas, Jack ranks among the best," said Mickey Herskowitz, the longtime sportswriter who covered the Junction Boys.

"He had such guts. He never lost a yard from scrimmage playing fullback, and he played one year with two dislocated shoulders. And he was a gentle, courteous gentleman."

'Over the Hill Gang'

Selected in the 1957 NFL Draft by the Rams, Pardee played through 1964 and was diagnosed with melanoma. He underwent, on his 28th birthday, 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 as one of George Allen's "Over the Hill Gang" with the Redskins.

"He was our leader," said Redskins teammate Diron Talbert. "George Allen counted on him, and we counted on him."

Pardee began his coaching career with the Florida Blazers in the World Football League, coached a Chicago Bears team that included the young Walter Payton from 1975 through 1977 and spent 1978 through 1980 as coach of the Redskins. He was named WFL coach of the year in 1974, NFC coach of the year with the Bears in 1976 and NFL coach of the year with the Redskins in 1979.

He spent a year as an assistant with the Chargers, then two years out of football in private business before coaching the USFL Gamblers.

"He asked (Gamblers owner) Jerry Argovitz why he picked the name Gamblers, and Jerry said, 'I'm a big Kenny Rogers fan, and 'The Gambler' is my favorite song,' " Herskowitz said. "Jack said, "I'm glad your favorite song wasn't 'Coward of the County.' "

'So much integrity'

He moved from the defunct USFL to UH, where Ware remembered him as a mentor and example.

"I'm eternally grateful to Jack Pardee for the rest of my life," Ware said in a recent interview. "I think so much of him. People know him as a coach, and I got to know him as Jack Pardee the person."

He left UH for the Oilers, where he led the team to the playoffs four years in a row through such events as the Kevin Gilbride-Buddy Ryan sideline fight and the often unpredictable ways of team owner Bud Adams.

"He had so much integrity. I had nothing but respect for him," said Bruce Matthews, the Hall of Fame lineman for the Oilers who now is an assistant coach with the Titans. "He had the perfect temperament to handle the off-the-field issues we had."

In retirement, Pardee and his wife moved to a ranch in Gause, and he kept in touch with his fellow Junction Boys and with members of the Gamblers, attending a team reunion in 2010.

"It seems to me that the good Lord takes the good guys first," said John David Crow, Pardee's teammate at A&M. "If there was a person you would want to emulate or copy, it would be Jack."

Created scholarship

Ted Pardee said his father chose in his final days to establish what he hoped will be a lasting legacy through the Jack Pardee Memorial Scholarship at UH.

"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," Ted Pardee said. "He could have offered his name to a lot of different charities or scholarship funds, but this was what my dad wanted to do."

Chronicle staff writer John McClain contributed.