The Jack Pardee Years

[70Chip]

He was pretty popular with the fans because he was seen as a natural successor to Allen, having played for him. They had a great team in 1979. They just couldn't shut the door on Dallas in that final game. You talk about the town being depressed on the Monday after a loss. That Monday was X1000. After that, Riggins headed for Kansas and the wheels sort of came off the 1980 season. At the end of that year, Ken Houston lost his starting job, and Pardee wouldn't let him start the final home game even though he was retiring and the fans all thought it would be a nice gesture since the season was in the crapper anyways. He took a lot of heat in the press over that. At least that's how I remember it. Plus, I THINK that Mr. Cooke took over the day to day control of the team from Ed Williams AFTER Pardee had been hired, so I'm not sure he was ever Cooke's guy. I could be wrong about that. The exact details of the ownership and management and who owns what percentage of Pro Football Inc. and so forth is a part of the story that they never quite get around to telling.