John Madden, Super Bowl winning Hall of Fame coach, died Tuesday morning, NFL said, without mentioning the cause of death. He was 85.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in his tribute to Madden, said, “On behalf of the entire NFL family, we extend our condolences to Virginia, Mike, Joe and their families. We all know him as the Hall of Fame coach of the Oakland Raiders and broadcaster who worked for every major network, but more than anything, he was a devoted husband, father and grandfather.”
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Goodell further went on say that Madden was football and the league will forever be indebted to him for all he did to make what it is today.
“Nobody loved football more than Coach. 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,” the statement further read.
“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.
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Who was John Madden?
John Madden was a coach turned broadcaster whose exuberant calls combined with simple explanations provided a weekly soundtrack to NFL games for three decades.
Madden’s NFL playing career derailed by a knee injury.
He coached the Oakland Raiders to seven AFC title games and winning the Super Bowl following the 1976 season. His 103-32-7 regular-season record, and .759 winning percentage is the best among NFL coaches with more than 100 games.
Madden retired as coach at age 42. He then stepped into the broadcast world at CBS alongside Pat Summerall until 1993. The former coach was with Fox for the 1994 season and also called games for ABC and NBC. He is best known for entertaining millions with his interjections of “Boom!” and “Doink!” throughout games.
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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 retired from the broadcast booth after leaving NBC’s ‘Sunday Night Football’.
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 inputs from the Associated Press
