This is very sad for me. I got the chance to meet him in 1972. He was very gracious. I was angry when he was fired. George Allen had left him with an aging team and few draft picks and he came within a point of winning the division in 1979. Not sure why he got all the blame in 1980 after Riggins decided to hold out the entire season. When Joe Gibbs replaced him in 1981, and eventually lost his first five games, I was hopping mad, claiming this wouldn't have happened with Pardee. Fortunately, things worked out.
Pardee later became Jim Kelly's first professional Head Coach with the Houston Gamblers of the old USFL. In 1984, he coached the Gamblers to first place in the Western Conference but lost in the playoffs to George Allen's Arizona Wranglers. I always got a kick out of that.
RIP Jack. I'll never forget old Number 32.