The sports world lost one of its most beloved, influential and iconic figures Tuesday with the passing of John Madden, the NFL Hall of Fame coach turned broadcaster.
Madden, who became known more for his unique, signature style of broadcasting NFL games once he transitioned to the TV booth than he was for his remarkable coaching career that produced a 103-32-7 record and a Super Bowl title for the Oakland Raiders, died Tuesday morning at age 85, the NFL announced.
The league said he died unexpectedly and no details about a cause of death were released.
“Nobody loved football more than Coach,’’ NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “He was football. He was an incredible sounding board to me and so many others. 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’s life played out in three amazing public phases — first as a coach, then as a broadcaster and finally as face of the “Madden NFL Football’’ video game that’s sold more than 250 million copies since its inception in 1988. He, too, was one of the original sports TV pitchmen, selling beer, restaurants and hardware stores, as well as an author.
“People always ask, ‘Are you a coach or a broadcaster or a video game guy?’ ’’ Madden said when was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006. “I’m a coach, always been a coach.’’
Madden first gained fame as the coach of the Raiders, leading them to seven AFC Championship games and winning the Super Bowl following the 1976 season. His .759 winning percentage is the best ever among NFL coaches with more than 100 games.
He retired from coaching at age 42 and became one of the most recognizable soundtracks to NFL games in the history of the sport, calling them on TV for three decades for CBS, FOX, ABC and NBC.
Madden’s style was revered by all. It was a genuine, masterful combination of the everyday man with the exuberance of a wide-eyed child all the while educating viewers with his brilliant knowledge of the game.
Madden did that with the use of the Telestrator on broadcasts to explain plays. Madden used it with his legendary vocabulary that included “Boom!’’ and “Doink!’’ throughout the broadcasts.
Madden was anything but a novelty act. He won an unprecedented 16 Emmy Awards for outstanding sports analyst/personality, and covering 11 Super Bowls for four networks from 1979-2009.
He began his broadcasting career at CBS after leaving coaching largely because he suffered from claustrophobia from flying. He and Pat Summerall became the network’s top announcing duo as Madden famously traveled from site to site in an RV, later called the “Madden Cruiser.’’
“When Madden and Summerall did our games, every player & every coach was excited,’’ former Giants quarterback and current CBS broadcaster Phil Simms tweeted. “It felt big. I told John Madden everything. I trusted him & he never betrayed it. I admired John’s passion for the game most and his truth. He was and will be remembered as a GIANT for football.’’
Among the long list of things Madden made famous include the yellow line that appears on TV broadcasts to indicate the first-down line to gain.
In the mid-1990s, during a Fox pre-production meeting, Madden, who was drawing a play on the Telestrator that included a line indicating the first-down mark, asked the crew, “Why can’t we just keep a first-down line on the screen the whole game?”
When it was suggested that it would be too distracting, Madden said, “You’re wrong. We should do it.”
There isn’t a football broadcast that doesn’t include that line today.
Madden’s final broadcast was the Steelers’ 27-23 win over the Cardinals in the Super Bowl XLIII following the 2008 season.
“For me, TV is really an extension of coaching,’’ Madden wrote in his book, “Hey, Wait a Minute! (I Wrote a Book!).’’
“My knowledge of football has come from coaching. And on TV, all I’m trying to do is pass on some of that knowledge to viewers.’’
No one did it better and with more style and likeability, and no one has since.
Raiders owner Al Davis brought Madden to Oakland as a linebackers coach in 1967, and Oakland went to the Super Bowl in his first year in the pros. He replaced John Rauch as head coach after the 1968 season at age 32, beginning his amazing 10-year run as head coach.
“John just had a great knack for letting us be what we wanted to be, on the field and off the field,’’ Ken Stabler, Madden’s Raiders quarterback, once said. “How do you repay him for being that way? You win for him.’’
Madden battled an ulcer in the 1977 season, when the Raiders lost in the AFC title game. Citing burnout, he retired from coaching at age 42 after a 9-7 season in 1978.
Little did anyone know at the time that his fame had only begun to flourish.
“I am not aware of anyone who has made a more meaningful impact on the National Football League than John Madden, and I know of no one who loved the game more,’’ Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said in a statement. “There is no one who lived a more beautiful football life than John Madden.”
