CLARKSVILLE TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Three years ago, Clarksville native Mike Pardue, who attended and played football at Northeast High and Austin Peay State University, received a phone call from a friend asking him to play in a flag football rec league in Nashville. That call changed his life.

Pardue is now a member of the national flag football team for the United States, and if he continues to make the cut, he could play in the 2028 Olympics.

“I’m just blessed to be able to play flag football for a career,” Pardue said. “I really never even thought that it got that serious. I haven’t even played three years, and to be at this level, it’s amazing.”

Pardue’s love for football started at Northeast, where he played for then-coach Isaac Shelby (now at Clarksville High). Pardue credits a lot of his success in the flag football world to the lessons Shelby taught him in his years at Northeast.

“I learned not only how to be a great football player, but to carry myself as a great player,” Pardue told Clarksville Now. “Shelby taught me when I go to these camps, they look at if you’re leading, in the front of the line, running to where you need to be. It’s all paying off 10 years later.”

Giving back as a coach

After graduating from NEHS in 2012, Pardue played defensive back at Austin Peay for a year. However, after a coaching staff change, he decided to end his playing career to begin coaching football.

“When the new coaches came in, they told me they were probably going to move on from me, so I left,” Pardue said. “Ever since then, I’ve been coaching. I’ve coached at Rossview, Northeast and Kirkwood. Now, I’m the defensive coordinator at Todd County. I’ve done private training with kids, I’ve coached basketball, all of it. I want people around the city to think of me as a guy who gives back to the community, because that’s what I love to do.”

Flag football journey

After only two trips to Nashville to play in the flag football rec league, a league official told Pardue that he was a special talent, and he could do big things in this field. With some help, Pardue began to realize his full potential on the field.

“When he was talking to me, I was confused, because I thought rec leagues were as big as it got,” Pardue said. “They recruited me to play in tournaments in the pro leagues, and my first tournament I played in was a world national tournament. It was a really cool thing, because I really didn’t know the game that well, and I just went out there and played. One tournament turned into two, turned into three, and I just kept rolling.”

After playing in several professional tournaments, Pardue was invited to join the Nashville Nighthawks, a professional flag football team that is a member of the AFL (American Flag League). He  turned that into an invitation to the combine for the United States Flag Football team.

After several months of training, Pardue has been designated as one of the top 18 flag football players in the United States. A lot of people and things helped Pardue get to this point, however, the common theme is that he just kept pushing.

“When I was a kid, even sometimes as a younger adult, every time I dealt with failure I kind of put my head down,” said Pardue. “I’ve been told no a lot in the football world. I’ve just continued to control what I can control. Sometimes you have to learn to turn losses into wins. I’m not finished, and nowhere near satisfied.”

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