FILE -
Fox
broadcasters
Pat
Summerall,
left,
and John
Madden
stand in
the
broadcast
booth at
the
Superdome
before
Super
Bowl 36
on Feb.
3, 2002,
in New
Orleans.
Madden,
the Hall
of Fame
coach
turned
broadcaster
whose
exuberant
calls
combined
with
simple
explanations
provided
a weekly
soundtrack
to NFL
games
for
three
decades,
died
Tuesday
morning,
Dec. 28,
2021,
the
league
said. He
was 85.
The NFL
said he
died
unexpectedly
and did
not
detail a
cause.
(AP
Photo/Ric
Feld,
File) |
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FILE -
Broadcaster
and
former
Oakland
Raiders
coach
John
Madden
poses
with his
bust
after
enshrinement
into the
Pro
Football
Hall of
Fame
Saturday,
Aug. 5,
2006, in
Canton,
Ohio.
John
Madden,
the Hall
of Fame
coach
turned
broadcaster
whose
exuberant
calls
combined
with
simple
explanations
provided
a weekly
soundtrack
to NFL
games
for
three
decades,
died
Tuesday,
Dec. 28,
2021,
the NFL
said. He
was
85.(AP
Photo/Mark
Duncan,
File) |
|
John
Madden,
Hall of
Fame
coach
and
broadcaster,
dies at
85
By JOSH
DUBOW
apnews.com
John
Madden,
the Hall
of Fame
coach
turned
broadcaster
whose
exuberant
calls
combined
with
simple
explanations
provided
a weekly
soundtrack
to NFL
games
for
three
decades,
died
Tuesday
morning,
the
league
said. He
was 85.
The NFL
said he
died
unexpectedly
and did
not
detail a
cause.
Madden
gained
fame in
a
decade-long
stint as
the
coach of
the
renegade
Oakland
Raiders,
making
it to
seven
AFC
title
games
and
winning
the
Super
Bowl
following
the 1976
season.
He
compiled
a
103-32-7
regular-season
record,
and his
.759
winning
percentage
is the
best
among
NFL
coaches
with
more
than 100
games.
But it
was his
work
after
prematurely
retiring
as coach
at age
42 that
made
Madden
truly a
household
name. He
educated
a
football
nation
with his
use of
the
telestrator
on
broadcasts;
entertained
millions
with his
interjections
of
“Boom!”
and “Doink!”
throughout
games;
was an
omnipresent
pitchman
selling
restaurants,
hardware
stores
and
beer;
became
the face
of
“Madden
NFL
Football,”
one of
the most
successful
sports
video
games of
all-time;
and was
a
best-selling
author.
Most of
all, he
was the
preeminent
television
sports
analyst
for most
of his
three
decades
calling
games,
winning
an
unprecedented
16 Emmy
Awards
for
outstanding
sports
analyst/personality,
and
covering
11 Super
Bowls
for four
networks
from
1979-2009.
“People
always
ask, are
you a
coach or
a
broadcaster
or a
video
game
guy?” he
said
when was
elected
to the
Pro
Football
Hall of
Fame.
“I’m a
coach,
always
been a
coach.”
He
started
his
broadcasting
career
at CBS
after
leaving
coaching
in great
part
because
of his
fear of
flying.
He and
Pat
Summerall
became
the
network’s
top
announcing
duo.
Madden
then
helped
give Fox
credibility
as a
major
network
when he
moved
there in
1994,
and went
on to
call
prime-time
games at
ABC and
NBC
before
retiring
following
Pittsburgh’s
thrilling
27-23
win over
Arizona
in the
2009
Super
Bowl.
“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,”
Dallas
Cowboys
owner
Jerry
Jones
said in
a
statement.
Burly
and a
little
unkempt,
Madden
earned a
place in
America’s
heart
with a
likable,
unpretentious
style
that was
refreshing
in a
sports
world of
spiraling
salaries
and
prima
donna
stars.
He rode
from
game to
game in
his own
bus
because
he
suffered
from
claustrophobia
and had
stopped
flying.
For a
time,
Madden
gave out
a “turducken”
— a
chicken
stuffed
inside a
duck
stuffed
inside a
turkey —
to the
outstanding
player
in the
Thanksgiving
game
that he
called.
“Nobody
loved
football
more
than
Coach.
He was
football,”
NFL
Commissioner
Roger
Goodell
said in
a
statement.
“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.”
When he
finally
retired
from the
broadcast
booth,
leaving
NBC’s
“Sunday
Night
Football,”
colleagues
universally
praised
Madden’s
passion
for the
sport,
his
preparation,
and his
ability
to
explain
an
often-complicated
game in
down-to-earth
terms.
Al
Michaels,
Madden’s
broadcast
partner
for
seven
years on
ABC and
NBC,
said
working
with him
“was
like
hitting
the
lottery.”
“He was
so much
more
than
just
football
— a keen
observer
of
everything
around
him and
a man
who
could
carry on
a smart
conversation
about
hundreds
and
hundreds
of
topics.
The term
‘Renaissance
Man’ is
tossed
around a
little
too
loosely
these
days,
but John
was as
close as
you can
come,”
Michaels
said.
For
anyone
who
heard
Madden
exclaim
“Boom!”
while
breaking
down a
play,
his love
of the
game was
obvious.
“For me,
TV is
really
an
extension
of
coaching,”
Madden
wrote in
“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.”
Madden
was
raised
in Daly
City,
California.
He
played
on both
the
offensive
and
defensive
lines
for Cal
Poly in
1957-58
and
earned
his
bachelor’s
and
master’s
degrees
from the
school.
Madden
was
chosen
to the
all-conference
team and
was
drafted
by the
Philadelphia
Eagles,
but a
knee
injury
ended
his
hopes of
a pro
playing
career.
Instead,
Madden
got into
coaching,
first at
Hancock
Junior
College
and then
as
defensive
coordinator
at San
Diego
State.
Al Davis
brought
him to
the
Raiders
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
a
remarkable
10-year
run.
With his
demonstrative
demeanor
on the
sideline
and
disheveled
look,
Madden
was the
ideal
coach
for the
collection
of
castoffs
and
misfits
that
made up
those
Raiders
teams.
“Sometimes
guys
were
disciplinarians
in
things
that
didn’t
make any
difference.
I was a
disciplinarian
in
jumping
offsides;
I hated
that,”
Madden
once
said.
“Being
in bad
position
and
missing
tackles,
those
things.
I
wasn’t,
‘Your
hair has
to be
combed.’”
The
Raiders
responded.
“I
always
thought
his
strong
suit was
his
style of
coaching,”
quarterback
Ken
Stabler
once
said.
“John
just had
a great
knack
for
letting
us be
what we
wanted
to be,
on the
field
and off
the
field.
... How
do you
repay
him for
being
that
way? You
win for
him.”
And boy,
did they
ever.
Many
years,
the only
problem
was the
playoffs.
Madden
went
12-1-1
in his
first
season,
losing
the AFL
title
game
17-7 to
Kansas
City.
That
pattern
repeated
itself
during
his
tenure;
the
Raiders
won the
division
title in
seven of
his
first
eight
seasons,
but went
1-6 in
conference
title
games
during
that
span.
Still,
Madden’s
Raiders
played
in some
of the
sport’s
most
memorable
games of
the
1970s,
games
that
helped
change
rules in
the NFL.
There
was the
“Holy
Roller”
in 1978,
when
Stabler
purposely
fumbled
forward
before
being
sacked
on the
final
play.
The ball
rolled
and was
batted
to the
end zone
before
Dave
Casper
recovered
it for
the
winning
touchdown
against
San
Diego.
The most
famous
of those
games
went
against
the
Raiders
in the
1972
playoffs
at
Pittsburgh.
With the
Raiders
leading
7-6 and
22
seconds
left,
the
Steelers
had a
fourth-and-10
from
their
40.
Terry
Bradshaw’s
desperation
pass
deflected
off
either
Oakland’s
Jack
Tatum or
Pittsburgh’s
Frenchy
Fuqua to
Franco
Harris,
who
caught
it at
his shoe
tops and
ran in
for a
TD.
In those
days, a
pass
that
bounced
off an
offensive
player
directly
to a
teammate
was
illegal,
and the
debate
continues
to this
day over
which
player
it hit.
The
catch,
of
course,
was
dubbed
the
“Immaculate
Reception.”
Oakland
finally
broke
through
with a
loaded
team in
1976
that had
Stabler
at
quarterback;
Fred
Biletnikoff
and
Cliff
Branch
at
receiver;
tight
end Dave
Casper;
Hall of
Fame
offensive
linemen
Gene
Upshaw
and Art
Shell;
and a
defense
that
included
Willie
Brown,
Ted
Hendricks,
Tatum,
John
Matuszak,
Otis
Sistrunk
and
George
Atkinson.
The
Raiders
went
13-1,
losing
only a
blowout
at New
England
in Week
4. They
paid the
Patriots
back
with a
24-21
win in
their
first
playoff
game and
got over
the AFC
title
game
hump
with a
24-7 win
over the
hated
Steelers,
who were
crippled
by
injuries.
Oakland
won it
all with
a 32-14
Super
Bowl
romp
against
Minnesota.
“Players
loved
playing
for
him,”
Shell
said.
“He made
it fun
for us
in camp
and fun
for us
in the
regular
season.
All he
asked is
that we
be on
time and
play
like
hell
when it
was time
to
play.”
Madden
battled
an ulcer
the
following
season,
when the
Raiders
once
again
lost in
the AFC
title
game. He
retired
from
coaching
at age
42 after
a 9-7
season
in 1978.
Madden
was a
longtime
resident
of
Pleasanton,
California,
a Bay
Area
suburb.
A
90-minute
documentary
on his
coaching
and
broadcasting
career,
“All
Madden,”
debuted
on Fox
on
Christmas
Day. The
film
featured
extensive
interviews
that
Madden
sat for
this
year.
His
wife,
Virginia,
and sons
Joseph
and
Michael
were
also
interviewed
for the
documentary.
John and
Virginia
Madden’s
62nd
wedding
anniversary
was two
days
before
his
death.
___
More AP
NFL:
https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
and
https://apnews.com/hub/pro-32
and
https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
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