Jack Pardee John Perry Pardee ( April 19 , 1936 – April 1 , 2013 ) was an American football linebacker and the only head coach to helm a team in college football , the National Football League , the United States Football League , the World Football League , and the Canadian Football League . Pardee was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1986 . Playing career . As a teenager , Pardee moved to Christoval , Texas where he excelled as a member of the six - man football team . He was an All - America n linebacker at Texas A & M University and a two - time All - Pro with the Los Angeles Rams ( 1963 ) and the Washington Redskins ( 1971 ) . He was one of the few six - man players to ever make it to the NFL , and his knowledge of that wide - open game would serve him well as a coach . Pardee was one of the famed Junction Boys , the 1954 Texas A & M preseason camp held in Junction , Texas , by football coach Paul " Bear " Bryant . He was part of the 35 left from the approximately 100 players who went to Junction , Texas . After completing college at Texas A & M , Pardee was the 14th overall pick when he was drafted in the second round by the Los Angeles Rams as a linebacker . Pardee played for the Rams from 1957 to 1970 ; sitting out the 1965 season while battling melanoma . In 1971 , Pardee joined the Washington Redskins , ending his playing career there in 1973 . Coaching career . WFL . When the World Football League started in 1974 , Pardee got his first head coaching job with the Washington Ambassadors . The team would later relocate to Norfolk , Virginia and become the Virginia Ambassadors before finally moving to their third and final home as the Florida Blazers . The Blazers , based in Orlando , made it all the way to the 1974 World Bowl and lost by one point to the Birmingham Americans . Pardee ' s regular season coaching record in 1974 with the Blazers was 14 – 6 , and 2 – 1 in the 1974 WFL Playoffs and World Bowl . This was all the more remarkable considering that the Blazers went unpaid for the last three months of the season . Some of the Blazers players relocated to San Antonio as the Wings for the 1975 season , and Pardee would move on too , signing on as head coach of the Chicago Bears for the 1975 season . First stint in the NFL . In 1975 , Pardee was hired by the Chicago Bears as head coach . He spent the next three years there , leading Chicago to their first playoff berth in 14 years in 1977 , before moving on to the Washington Redskins . In 1979 he led the Redskins to within 1 game of making the playoffs , but in the season ' s final week they blew a 13 - point lead to the eventual NFC East champions Dallas Cowboys and missed the playoffs . He was fired after going 6 - 10 in 1980 . In 1981 , he was hired as Assistant Head Coach in charge of defense for the San Diego Chargers . USFL . In 1984 , Pardee returned to his native Texas by becoming the head coach of the Houston Gamblers . The Gamblers played spring football in the United States Football League . The Gamblers had one of the most potent offenses in pro football , the run and shoot offense , with Jim Kelly as quarterback . The Gamblers merged with the New Jersey Generals in 1986 , and Pardee was named head coach . With Kelly and Doug Flutie both vying for the role of starting quarterback , and Herschel Walker in the backfield , the Generals were poised to dominate the USFL . But the league ' s attempted move to a fall schedule ( at the behest of the Generals ' owner , Donald Trump ) ruined any chance of that . There would be no 1986 season , and the Generals , despite Trump ' s best efforts , disbanded with the rest of the league . NCAA . Pardee returned to Houston in 1987 as head coach at the University of Houston . During his three - year stint , the Cougars , utilizing the same offense he coached in the USFL , produced the first ever African - American quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy , Andre Ware . His team also became the first major college team in NCAA history to have over 1 , 000 total offensive yards in a single game , raking up 1 , 021 yards while beating SMU , 95 – 21 . Not long after Pardee ' s arrival , however , Houston was slapped with crippling NCAA sanctions due to numerous major violations under his predecessor , Bill Yeoman . Among them , the Cougars were banned from bowl games in 1989 and 1990 and kicked off live television in 1989 . As a result , most of the nation never got a chance to see the Cougars set numerous offensive records during the 1989 season . Second stint in the NFL . In 1990 , Pardee packed up the run and shoot offense and moved across town , and back to the NFL , by joining the Houston Oilers . He spent five years coaching a team which made the playoffs each of his first four years there , led by Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon . After starting the 1994 season 1 – 9 , Pardee resigned . CFL . He continued his coaching career in the Canadian Football League . In 1995 , he was named head coach of the Birmingham Barracudas . Canadian football is somewhat more wide - open than American football , and owner Art Williams thought Pardee ' s roots in the six - man game made him a natural fit . The " Cudas " were part of a failed experiment to expand the CFL into the United States . With Matt Dunigan at quarterback , Birmingham made the playoffs , but lost in the first round . However , due to dreadful attendance late in the season , the ' Cudas were shuttered at the end of the season along with the CFL ' s other American teams . Return to coaching . In December 2007 , Pardee , then 71 , was contacted by athletic director Dave Maggard about the vacant head coaching job at the University of Houston . Signaling interest , he made it as far as a finalist for the position , however the school moved forward with Oklahoma co - offensive coordinator Kevin Sumlin . Personal life . Pardee was married for 50 years to Phyllis Lane Perryman and had five children and 12 grandchildren . Pardee ' s youngest son , Ted , is the color commentator for the Houston Cougars football radio broadcasts . In November 2012 , Pardee was diagnosed with gallbladder cancer and it was reported by his family that he only had six to nine more months to live , The cancer spread to other organs and Pardee moved to a Denver hospice . Pardee died April 1 , 2013 , two and a half weeks before his 77th birthday . The family has established a memorial scholarship fund in Pardee ’ s name at the University of Houston . He is survived by his wife Phyllis ; five children and 12 grandchildren .