NFL honors John Madden in the Thanksgiving celebration on Thursday.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said, “No one cared more or contributed more to our game than John Madden”. “Honoring his memory and impact on the NFL is important and Thanksgiving Day brings all of the elements significant to John to life — family, football, food, and fun.”
On November 24, the first “John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration” will take place and as a part of the celebration, CBS, FOX, and NBC will each produce a special broadcast tribute to the football icon.
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Additionally, each network will select a “Madden Player of the Game.” These tributes will happen throughout each game’s broadcast (Bills vs. Lions at 12:30 p.m. ET on CBS, Giants vs. Cowboys at 4:30 p.m. ET on FOX and Patriots vs. Vikings at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC).
Who was John Madden?
John Earl Madden popularly known as John Madden was an American footballer, coach and sports commentator in the National Football League (NFL). He was born on April 10, 1936 in Austin, Minnesota. His father Earl Russell Madden was an auto mechanic and he was raised in San Francisco. He attended the Jefferson high school and graduated in 1954.
John Madden’s Career
John Madden was a football star from his high school. He played for one season in 1954 at the College of San Mateo before receiving a football scholarship to the University of Oregon.
He was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1958 NFL Draft after competing on both the offensive and defensive lines at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo.
From 1960 to 1963, he served as an assistant coach at Hancock Junior College in Santa Maria, California. From 1964 to 1966, he served as San Diego State University’s defensive coordinator. Al Davis also hired Madden as the linebackers coach for the Oakland Raiders in 1967. At only 32 years old, Madden received a promotion to head coach in February 1969.
Even while his coaching prowess had made him well-known, Madden’s second career as a football analyst for television is where he really rose to popularity and became an NFL star.
He began working alongside play-by-play announcer Pat Summerall in 1981, and the two worked together for 21 years, becoming possibly the most well-known sports broadcasting team in history.
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One Size Doesn’t Fit All (1988), All Madden: Hey, I’m Talking Pro Football!, Hey, Wait a Minute, I Wrote a Book (1984), and Hey, Wait a Minute, I Wrote a Book (1984) are just a few of the best-selling books written by Madden.
John Madden died on December 28, 2021, at the age of 85.
