Jack Pardee, a Texas football legend who was Walter Payton's first head coach in the NFL and guided the Bears to a playoff appearance in 1977, died of cancer, his family announced Monday. He was 76.

Pardee coached the Chicago Bears from 1975 to 1977 and is credited with helping turn the franchise around from the doldrums of the late '60s and early '70s. He was diagnosed with terminal gallbladder cancer in November.

He compiled a 20-22 record as head coach of the Bears, improving each season, and won the final six games in '77 to reach the playoffs, the first time the team had been in the postseason since the 1963 championship season. But the Bears were ousted 37-7 by the Cowboys and 31/2 weeks later Pardee resigned, saying he had "mixed emotions." He rejected an offer from general manager Jim Finks to return to the Bears and was hired by the Redskins, for whom he had been an assistant coach and player.

"Jack was a great guy," said former Bears wide receiver Brian Baschnagel, whom Pardee originally tried as a cornerback. "Very stern. Very quiet. But he was extremely fair. He spoke his mind. He was very direct."

Baschnagel said the players were disappointed when Pardee departed after the 9-5 season and were not sure of all the circumstances surrounding the change that led to Neill Armstrong taking over.

"It was crushing when Jack left," former Bears linebacker Doug Buffone said. "I got real close to Jack, football-wise. He was an old linebacker like myself. I used to call the defenses. We would go over the whole game plan, and then he would turn it over to me during the game. He gave me the keys to the car.

"It was the first time in a long time playing for the Bears (when) things looked pretty good down the road for us. We got to the playoffs. We were playing well. I thought maybe he would be the Golden Boy for the Chicago Bears. I was surprised he would leave, but who knows what happened?"

Pardee had complained publicly about conditions at Soldier Field and the Bears' practice facilities, but he was expected to return. Then the Redskins job opened when George Allen was fired. Finks told the Washington Post he called a meeting in an effort to re-sign Pardee before he exited.

"It's done. It's history," Finks told the Post afterward. "I've got no quarrel with anybody trying to improve himself. We all have different likes and dislikes. I wish he had handled things differently. I wish I'd have known a little sooner. Jack gave me a little shuffle."

Bears Chairman George McCaskey issued a statement that read: "The Bears family was saddened to hear of Jack Pardee's passing. Coach Pardee's time with us was only three seasons, but he made an impact by ending a 14-year playoff drought in 1977. It was a spark that led toward a great decade of Bears football. Our prayers go out to his family."

Pardee, who scored 57 touchdowns for his six-man football team at Christoval (Texas) High School in 1952, played three seasons for Bear Bryant at Texas A&M, becoming one of the "Junction Boys." He played for the Rams and Redskins from 1957 to 1972, missing two seasons beginning in 1965 after malignant melanoma was discovered in his left arm, leading to an 11-hour surgery and chemotherapy. He capped his playing career by winning the NFC defensive player of the year award in 1972.

Pardee coached the Florida Blazers (1974) in the World Football League, the Redskins (1978-80) and the Houston Gunslingers in the USFL (1984-85), where he was named coach of the year in 1984. He coached at the University of Houston from 1987 to 1989, when Andre Ware won the Heisman Trophy, and returned to the NFL with the Houston Oilers in 1990, leading the team to the playoffs his first four years before being fired midway through the 1994 season. Finally, in 1995 he coached the Birmingham Barracudas in the CFL. His NFL record was 87-77.

"My dad was committed to football, but he was always close to his family," his son Ted Pardee told the Houston Chronicle. "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."

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