Former NFL head coach and player Jack Pardee has passed away at age 76, multiple media outlets reported Monday.
Ted Pardee, Jack’s son, said his father passed away from complications of gallbladder cancer, Mark Berman of Fox 26 in Houston reported.
Pardee coached the Bears from 1975-77, leading Chicago to the postseason in his final campaign. After the 1977 season, he took the Redskins’ coaching job, leading Washington from 1978 through 1980. He won NFL Coach of the Year honors in 1979 after Washington posted a 10-6 mark.
Let go after the 1980 season, Pardee would go on to coach the USFL’s Houston Gamblers (1984-1985) and the University of Houston (1987-1989) before taking the Oilers’ job in 1990. He led the Oilers to the postseason in each of his first four seasons, but Houston managed just one playoff win in that span. After a 1-9 start in 1994, Pardee resigned and was replaced by Jeff Fisher.
Including playoffs, Pardee’s career NFL coaching record was 88-82 (.518).
Before another generation came to know him for his work on the sidelines, Pardee had a decorated career as a player. He was an All-American at Texas A&M under Bear Bryant, playing linebacker and fullback. He entered the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams in 1957 and would play 15 seasons in the league, twice earning All-Pro honors (1964, 1971).
An academic All-American and a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, Jack Pardee was born April 19, 1936 in Exira, Iowa.