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He was literally and figuratively a giant of the game. The loss of John Madden this week ended an era of football that quite frankly we’ll probably never see again. It’s kind of a cool thing to have a Hall of Fame career, unless you’re John Madden, he had 3. Depending on how old you are your recollections of what John Madden meant to you are completely different and amazingly wonderful all at the same time. For those of us who were fortunate to be alive and somewhat cognizant during all 3 of his careers, I can only say what a blessing.
Let’s start this 3 part act at the beginning. John Madden was all of 32 years old when he became the youngest head coach in the league running the Oakland Raiders. His numbers during his tenure speak for themselves… he essentially won 3 out of every 4 games his team played in. I’m no math major but winning 75% of your football games is a damn hard thing to do. But it wasn’t just that he won, it’s HOW his teams won. The Raiders of the 70’s were a delight band mercurial mercenaries: Ted Hendricks, Otis Sistrunk, Phil Villiapiano, John Matuzack, Ken Stabler, Dave Casper, Willie Brown, Cliff Branch and Gene Upshaw and Art Shell just to name a few. They won and they had a helluva lot of fun doing it. They were also involved in some of the greatest games in NFL history; the immaculate reception against the Steelers, the sea of hands catch game against the Dolphins that ended their run as two time super bowl champions, and the infamous Holy Roller game where a fumble scooped forward was the winning score against the Chargers, that one resulted in a rule change. The best thing about Madden’s Raiders were they were good AND highly entertaining. All of that talent came together in Super Bowl 11 where they vanquished the Minnesota Vikings 32-14 for the franchise’s first Lombardi Trophy.
Not long after that..BOOM! Madden’s 2nd Hall of Fame career took off calling games.. He at one point was the lead analyst for4 different networks; CBS, FOX, ABC and NBC. Now THAT is a grand slam. He made the fat guys of the game relevant and relatable using words like slobber knocker and saying things like “the road to easy street goes through the sewer”. Hell he even invented a meal, the Thanksgiving Turducken, his owl delicious combination of turkey, duck and chicken.But while was the jovial prince of calling games he was also dead serious about football and understanding its nature. Years before the NFL acknowledged the dangers of concussions to players Madden would routinely talk about them during a game, saying if a player had a concussion he should be out of the game and the next few as well. He was in every way a players coach and broadcaster. After the Cowboys Emmitt Smith played the 2nd half and overtime of a must win game against The Giants with a separated shoulder he personally went to Emmitt after the game and told him it was the most courageous performance he’d ever seen.
And the natural love of the game spawned his 3rd Hall of Fame career, as the voice and the impetus behind the greatest video game ever created, Madden Football. By himself he turned a company and an industry into a profit making machine. It was his over enthusiastic passion for football that made people want to play. I always loved watching younger kids playing it, realizing they had no concept of who this guy was except “ the guy behind the video game”. Now that is a legend, someone who’s so good at 3 different things you didn’t need to know how good he was at any but one of them to truly appreciate his genius.
I was working the ceremony the day John Madden was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. I’ve seen better speeches but I’m hot sure I ever saw someone having more fun giving that speech. His famous line about all the busts was something to the effect of “you know they all get up and talk to each other at night after everyone has left”. That’s how much he loved the game. No one had more fun coaching, talking about and adapting football to a new platform. He was a visionary, a linguistic genius and a transformational business man when it came to the game he loved. And for all of us that got to be a part of all 3 acts let me just say thanks for taking us along for the ride. Rest easy big John, you may be gone but your legacy and your impact on the game will NEVER leave us. BOOM!
