Larry Thomas Pridemore Jr. (born April 29, 1956) is a former

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

from West Virginia who played eight seasons in the NFL for the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

and served as a delegate in the

West Virginia House of Delegates The West Virginia House of Delegates is the lower house of the West Virginia Legislature. Only three states—Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia—refer to their lower house as the House of Delegates. Organization Regular sessions begin with ...

from 1981-1983.

High school

Pridemore played for the Ansted High School Highlanders and was a member of the record setting team that won 36 straight games on their way to winning back-to-back state championships (1971 and 1972).

College

Pridemore, who was inducted into the

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

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 #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

). As a sophomore, Pridemore led the Mountaineers to a 1975

Peach Bowl The Peach Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Atlanta, Georgia since December 1968. Since 1997, it has been sponsored by Chick-fil-A and is officially known as the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. From 2006 to 2013, it was officially re ...

victory against the

NC State Wolfpack The NC State Wolfpack is the nickname of the athletic teams representing North Carolina State University. The Wolfpack competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I (Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for college footb ...

NFL

After being drafted by the

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, and earned the reputation as one of the meanest, hardest-hitting safeties in the game. With 21 career interceptions (returned for 368 total yards), Pridemore ranks sixth on Atlanta's all-time pick list behind

Deion Sanders Deion Luwynn Sanders Sr. (born August 9, 1967) is an American football coach and former player who is the head coach at the University of Colorado Boulder. Nicknamed "Prime Time", he played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons ...

. 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 Joseph Clifford Montana Jr. (born June 11, 1956) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. Nicknamed "Joe Cool" and "the Comeback Kid", ...

pass from a yard deep in Atlanta's own end-zone and returned it 101 yards for a touchdown, which is a team record. 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 in the

, between 1981 and 1983 as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

.https://www.wvlegislature.gov/legisdocs/publications/bluebook/2015-2016/0337_WVS_BlueBook.pdf He is the only NFL player to hold this legislative office while playing professional football.

Life after football

After his tenure with the Falcons, 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. Pridemore is a prominent businessman in the greater Atlanta area, and has personal ventures in residential real-estate and timber properties. Pridemore had two sons who played football at the collegiate level. Matt, the eldest, enrolled at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

as a wide receiver in 2007, and TJ, who played fullback for the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

, enrolled in 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pridemore, Tom 1956 births Living people American athlete-politicians People from Ansted, West Virginia West Virginia University alumni American football safeties West Virginia Mountaineers football players Atlanta Falcons players Democratic Party members of the West Virginia House of Delegates Players of American football from West Virginia