Q&A with Jack Pardee
"Graduate" of Junction & Long-Time NFL Player and Coach
Q - What are your memories of the summer of 1954 in Junction, Texas?
A - My memories are pleasant now - the mind is great at putting aside bad memories and remembering good ones - but it was hard work and drudgery. Just getting through the day was difficult. It was 10 days that seemed like a month.
Q - What was the team's reaction to the conditions and training regimen?
A - We didn't know any better. We didn't know it was different at other places. And for the sophomores, new to the team because freshmen were ineligible, it was a chance to play! I played both ways and played seven or eight positions that summer. Everytime somebody left, I tried a new position. I found a lot of positions I couldn't play!
Q - What was the purpose behind the conditions the team endured?
A - What Coach Bryant did was build a foundation. We developed a trust in each other. Having survived Junction, we knew our teammates would give all they had. It's a team sport, and we learned to depend on each other. You see those players today who make a tackle and beat their chest? They would only do that once for Coach Bryant.
Coach Bryant's major theme was 'Don't be a quitter.' He drummed into us that we can't quit on ourselves, our teammates, our family and our friends. He said it's easy to play in the first quarter, but how will you play in the fourth quarter? Junction was all about preparing for the fourth quarter.
Q - What did you learn from Bear Bryant that was useful in your career as a coach?
A - The biggest lesson I learned from Coach Bryant that I carried to my 20-plus years in coaching was fairness. How many times have you heard an athlete say, 'I should be starting, but…' and they blame the coach for playing favorites. Coach Bryant had 'The Challenge Drill.' If you believed you were better than the guy ahead of you, you went one-on-one and if you won, Coach Bryant would switch jerseys right there. The biggest way a coach can lose credibility is if players don't think they're getting a fair shot, and Coach Bryant took politics out of the sport.
I also learned that the actual Xs and Os are probably the least important thing in coaching. Being able to judge talent and motivating people are critical. It's all about getting people to practice well every day and believing they are good enough to win.
Another rule of his that I used was if you don't practice, you don't play. Without that rule, the training room would be full. When I was with the Bears we drafted Walter Payton. He only missed one game in his whole career, and it was in his rookie season after he hadn't practiced all week. He wasn't happy, but he never missed another workout.
Q - Did the lessons of Junction stay with the team members after their college days?
A - Coach Bryant told us that if you hang in there, something good will happen. All these old clichés came true in front of us. The lessons we learned were useful in life, not just on the football field. One season when things weren't going well, we had a meeting where Coach was urging us to keep at it. He said, 'What's going to happen when you're 35 and you get a pink slip, the kids are hungry and your wife runs off with the shoe salesman? Are you going to quit then?' I was 18 at the time and it was hard to relate, but by the time I was 35, all those things had happened to me, except the shoe salesman part. I even had cancer when I was 28. I had four kids and didn't know if I'd live a year. Coach Bryant taught us to never give up. The things he preached came true.
Q - Any final thoughts on what those days nearly 50 years ago meant?
A - The most gratifying thing is what people did with their lives. Of the eight players in my class who entered as freshmen, all are still alive and married to their first wives. In that group, you have successful people - coaches, engineers, a CEO, a lawyer and an air force pilot. The hard times we endured solidified the friendships. You don't have to play football to learn these lessons, but for me, outside of being in the military and getting shot at, I don't know a better way to learn them. Some strong people came out of Junction, and when we get together, it seems like just yesterday.
A - My memories are pleasant now - the mind is great at putting aside bad memories and remembering good ones - but it was hard work and drudgery. Just getting through the day was difficult. It was 10 days that seemed like a month.
Q - What was the team's reaction to the conditions and training regimen?
A - We didn't know any better. We didn't know it was different at other places. And for the sophomores, new to the team because freshmen were ineligible, it was a chance to play! I played both ways and played seven or eight positions that summer. Everytime somebody left, I tried a new position. I found a lot of positions I couldn't play!
Q - What was the purpose behind the conditions the team endured?
A - What Coach Bryant did was build a foundation. We developed a trust in each other. Having survived Junction, we knew our teammates would give all they had. It's a team sport, and we learned to depend on each other. You see those players today who make a tackle and beat their chest? They would only do that once for Coach Bryant.
Coach Bryant's major theme was 'Don't be a quitter.' He drummed into us that we can't quit on ourselves, our teammates, our family and our friends. He said it's easy to play in the first quarter, but how will you play in the fourth quarter? Junction was all about preparing for the fourth quarter.
Q - What did you learn from Bear Bryant that was useful in your career as a coach?
A - The biggest lesson I learned from Coach Bryant that I carried to my 20-plus years in coaching was fairness. How many times have you heard an athlete say, 'I should be starting, but…' and they blame the coach for playing favorites. Coach Bryant had 'The Challenge Drill.' If you believed you were better than the guy ahead of you, you went one-on-one and if you won, Coach Bryant would switch jerseys right there. The biggest way a coach can lose credibility is if players don't think they're getting a fair shot, and Coach Bryant took politics out of the sport.
I also learned that the actual Xs and Os are probably the least important thing in coaching. Being able to judge talent and motivating people are critical. It's all about getting people to practice well every day and believing they are good enough to win.
Another rule of his that I used was if you don't practice, you don't play. Without that rule, the training room would be full. When I was with the Bears we drafted Walter Payton. He only missed one game in his whole career, and it was in his rookie season after he hadn't practiced all week. He wasn't happy, but he never missed another workout.
Q - Did the lessons of Junction stay with the team members after their college days?
A - Coach Bryant told us that if you hang in there, something good will happen. All these old clichés came true in front of us. The lessons we learned were useful in life, not just on the football field. One season when things weren't going well, we had a meeting where Coach was urging us to keep at it. He said, 'What's going to happen when you're 35 and you get a pink slip, the kids are hungry and your wife runs off with the shoe salesman? Are you going to quit then?' I was 18 at the time and it was hard to relate, but by the time I was 35, all those things had happened to me, except the shoe salesman part. I even had cancer when I was 28. I had four kids and didn't know if I'd live a year. Coach Bryant taught us to never give up. The things he preached came true.
Q - Any final thoughts on what those days nearly 50 years ago meant?
A - The most gratifying thing is what people did with their lives. Of the eight players in my class who entered as freshmen, all are still alive and married to their first wives. In that group, you have successful people - coaches, engineers, a CEO, a lawyer and an air force pilot. The hard times we endured solidified the friendships. You don't have to play football to learn these lessons, but for me, outside of being in the military and getting shot at, I don't know a better way to learn them. Some strong people came out of Junction, and when we get together, it seems like just yesterday.
