Jordan was born in Woodlawn, Tennessee. He served in the United States Army from 1954 to 1956. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Tennessee in 1958 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1960. He was in private practice in Nashville, Tennessee from 1960 to 1961. He was a manager for the Frontier Refining Company in Denver, Colorado from 1962 to 1964, returning to private practice in Johnson City, Tennessee from 1964 to 1966. He was thereafter a trust officer of the First People's Bank of Johnson City until 1969, and then of First National Bank of Milton, Florida and of the Commercial National Bank of Pensacola, Florida (of which he was also a Vice President) until 1971. He resumed private practice in Johnson City from 1971 to 1980, and was a Chancellor of the First Judicial District of Tennessee from 1980 to 1988.[2]
