R.I.P. football icon John Madden
The Super Bowl-winning coach, iconic broadcaster, and video game namesake has died
Aux News football
John Madden, possibly the most famous person to ever be associated with professional American football, has died. The news was announced by the National Football League (via Variety), which said in a statement that Madden’s death was “unexpected,” but it did not offer a specific cause of death beyond that. Madden was 85.
The NFL statement quotes league commissioner Roger Goodell as saying that Madden was a “devoted husband, father, and grandfather,” and that he “was football.” The brief statement ends by saying that, “There will never be another John Madden, and we will forever be indebted to him for all he did to make football and the NFL what it is today.”
Madden was born in Minnesota in 1936 but his family moved to California when he was a kid, and he played football in both high school and college. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1958, but a knee injury during training camp prevented him from ever playing professionally. Instead, he started working as a coach for various college teams, developing a reputation for consistent success that got him a job as a linebacker coach with the Oakland Raiders.
A few years later, Madden was named the Raiders’ new head coach and, over the course of his decade-long tenure with the team, put together one of the highest winning percentages in the history of the NFL. He also won a Super Bowl and was the youngest coach to ever win 100 regular season games. Citing health concerns, though, Madden retired from coaching in 1979 and joined CBS as a color commentator—finding a second career that would make an even bigger impact than his time as a coach.
As a broadcaster, hopping between all of the major networks whenever they had NFL rights and/or enough money to afford him (Madden was, at one point, paid higher than any NFL player), John Madden effectively became the face of football for a lot of people, with his boisterous attitude and flair for silly broadcasting gimmicks (he’s credited with popularizing the use of the telestrator, the tool that allows broadcasters to essentially draw on the screen) turning him into a larger-than-life personality and earning him a bunch of Emmy awards (and advertising spokesperson contracts) in the process.
But that’s all without acknowledging the other enormous impact he had on pop culture and football through his involvement in EA’s Madden NFL video game series—one of the biggest and most successful video game franchises of all time, sports or otherwise. Rather than just signing away his name and recording a few voice lines, Madden’s input and expertise helped push the series both creatively and technologically, making it the definitive football game for a lot of players (though that has all been in tangible decline since EA bought the exclusive rights to make NFL console games, changing Madden from the definitive take on the sport to the only take on the sport).
Like Goodell said in the NFL’s statement, John Madden simply was football—whether in terms of his coaching, his broadcasting, or the Madden NFL games. His impact on the sport and its status as a fixture of American pop culture is undeniable.
35 Comments
Sure it’s sad, but unexpected? Man was 85. RIP
W.A.G.: something heart related?
I mean…this is what he looked like in 1977:
Majestic sideburns.
Truly epic. Also probably why Mr. Burns never hired him to coach the nuclear plant’s football team. Didn’t approve.
You haven’t fully experienced John Madden until you watched a Saints game while hungover at an airport bar in New Orleans with the TV muted and Madden’s “unique” style of commentary being dutifully transcribed via closed caption subtitles.
It seems Fox ran the All Madden documentary on Christmas day just in time. I certainly hope he got to see it.He truly was a titan of the sport. I grew up watching his three careers unfold. First, growing up in Houston made the Raiders a nemesis every year. Their roster was filled with outlandish characters who, even though you wanted to hate them, you had to love. Oakland was basically the NFL’s version of the Island of Misfit Toys and John Madden made them into winners.Madden set the standard for color commentators. ‘Nuff said. The EA Sports career was truly the icing on the cake.
I’m sorry I missed the documentary. But I did read over on Deadspin that it’s going to be streaming on ESPN+ and Peacock soon.https://deadspin.com/beloved-zany-coach-and-legendary-broadcaster-john-madd-1848279664
Same here. I only caught the last half of it. Airing on Christmas Day made it hard to carve out the time. I’ll be watching it in full when it streams.
I miss Deadspin.It died two years ago and was never heard from again.
actually it got remarried and changed it’s name.
For me, it started that summer with this article followed by Burneko banning a few hundred commenters for rightfully calling out such a hack piece of writing.https://deadspin.com/heres-what-every-member-of-the-usmnt-has-to-say-about-u-1835659843
Customarily, we don’t speak ill of the dead.
MADDEN SUCCUMBS TO MADDEN CURSE(Really, I should have put this in a sealed envelope and then revealed it when the Onion uses it.)
I mean, really, that should just add to his legend – it took the curse 22 years to get him, since the last time he was the primary person on the cover was “Madden NFL 2000.”
It worked like The Ring video – as long as he kept putting someone else on the cover, the Curse passed him by.
He was also on the cover of Madden 98.
He was on the cover of every version up to Madden NFL 2000. Maybe repeat appearances stave off the curse, but once you stop appearing it can get you. But the Power of BOOM™ kept it at bay for those 22 years.
As someone who was never much into football, this is my major image of him.
Jeez, I’d forgotten how mean-spirited Caliendo’s Madden was.
it’s really pretty shitty too; he nails the sound of Madden’s voice but nothing else. Madden doesn’t stutter like that and his commentary was actually very, very smart. He just had a simple way of explaining things, which is what made him such a damn great commentator.
He just had a simple way of explaining things, which is what made him such a damn great commentator.Yep, and that’s what Caliendo stupidly dismisses as, well, stupidity when it’s really an example of being so astute that you’re able to explain what’s going on in a pretty damn complex game in a way that’s understandable by and appeals to both novice fans and those who’ve been watching forever.I guess the popularity of the imitation was how in close he gets the voice, but he failed to capture the “character” in any meaningful way. Compare that with, say, Jon Culshaw, who’s an expert at both.
I thought Caliendo’s Robin Williams captured his “character” pretty well.
Of course, you already have fuckwits on Twitter saying “John Madden should not be praised because his video game series glorified violence and resulted in the NFL becoming modern-day slavery.” Yes, there are people who genuinely believe that crap.I was too young for his coaching days, but I grew up with his broadcast career, and he was always informative and entertaining, even when he clearly didn’t have it anymore during his final few years. Analysts have been trying to step into his shoes ever since, and none of them (no, not even Romo) have done so yet.
He was also a pretty fun spokesman too.
Romo’s legit. The article mentioned Madden found a second career in broadcasting, and I’m super glad Romo was able to do the same. He’s a bit of a fanboy, at times just salivating over stars, but his perspicacious nature and upbeat attitude are vastly preferable to like, Troy Aikman sleeptalking though every play.
Don Meredith is another Cowboys QB to have a successful broadcasting career.
and he was on King of the Hill!
I call Aikman and Buck The Boring Twins (I also have a hard time telling their voices apart. Like, I can tell they are different voices, but I can never remember which one is which.) I am always delighted when I get to watch a game with Romo.Also, in college, RGIII has proven to be a lot of fun as a commentator.
Yeah. It’s just a sport where 70% of the players are black but nearly all the quarterbacks and owners are white. Totally normally system.
I saw that tweet. The comification of black bodies is something worth discussing but John Madden didn’t make the damn games. Blame EA, also the violence in gaming argument is so obnoxious.
I’ll be pouring out a Miller Lite 40 oz. on my porch for him tonight.
Sad to see him go. I’m sure EA will be respectful and not make a 90 dollar memorial Madden game with in game skin…
Madden 2023 will have the option of redlining every player on the field as John Madden. At that point the commentators just say “Madden Madden Madden? Madden Madden. Madden.”
I was loath to come here, assuming there would be fifty dildos saying he should be cancelled for some reason or another. As a lifelong fan of the Oakland Raiders (fuck Vegas), I was relieved to see positive comments.Even though he retired before I was old enough to watch football, he has always had a special place in my heart. Those 70s Raiders teams were special. And he was a special person.RIP.