Tom Pridemore

NFL player


Color=Crimson
Name=Tom Pridemore
DateOfBirth=birth date and age|1956|04|29
Birthplace=flagicon|USA Ansted, West Virginia
Position= Safety
College=West Virginia
DraftedYear=1978
DraftedRound=9 / Pick 236
ProBowls=
Awards=
PFR=
DatabaseFootball=PRIDETOM01
years=1978-1985
teams=Atlanta Falcons

Tom Pridemore is a former safety from West Virginia who played eight seasons in the NFL for the Atlanta Falcons.

College

Pridemore, who was inducted into the West Virginia University Hall of Fame in 2001, holds school records that include: most career interception return yards (398 - 26.5 yards per return), most single game interception return yards, and most career interceptions (15). He also holds a WVU school record which doubles as an NCAA record as the Longest interception returned for a touchdown (102 yards vs Penn State). As a sophomore, Pridemore led the Mountaineers to a Peach Bowl victory against the California Golden Bears.

NFL

After being drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in 1978, Pridemore saw his first start in the third game of his rookie year and never looked back. Pridemore was Atlanta's starting free safety for the next eight years. Pridemore recorded 21 career interceptions (returned for 368 total yards), ranking sixth on Atlanta's all time pick-list behind Deion Sanders. He ranks fourth on the all time list for most interceptions in a season at 7, and holds the Falcon's club record for most interception return yards in a single season (271). In 1981 Pridemore picked off a Joe Montana pass from a yard deep in Atlanta's own end-zone and returned it 101 yards for a touchdown. This duplication of Pridemore's previous college and NCAA record will probably also stand for quite some time, if not forever in Atlanta. While playing for the Falcons, Pridemore served one term as a West Virginia Legislature, being elected a State Senator. He is the only NFL player to hold this legislative office while playing professional football.

Current

After his tenure with the Falcon's, Pridemore settled in Atlanta with his wife Leigh and four children, and went on to found Pride Utility Construction Company with long-time friend and teammate Scott Case.