John Madden, the Hall of Fame coach and commentator whose exuberant style and straightforward explanations were the soundtrack to NFL broadcasts for three decades, died Tuesday, the league reported. He was 85 years old.
The NFL said Madden died suddenly and did not reveal the cause.
Madden gained notoriety during his decade leading the renegade Oakland Raiders, leading the franchise to seven AFC finals and winning the Super Bowl at the end of the 1976 campaign. He finished with a 103-32-7 season record. regular and his .759 winning percentage is the best among coaches with at least 100 games.
But it was the job he took after his premature retirement from coaching at age 42 that catapulted Madden to fame. He educated an entire nation in the matter of American football with his use of the “telestrator” in the transmissions; entertained millions of viewers with his expressions like “Boom!” and “Doink!”; He was a ubiquitous figure in advertising campaigns for restaurants, hardware stores, and beers; became the face of “Madden NFL Football,” one of the most successful sports video games ever, and was a best-selling author.
More importantly, he was the most recognized sports analyst on television for much of his three decades in the broadcast booth. He won an unprecedented 16 Emmy Awards as a notable sports personality or analyst, and covered 11 Super Bowls for four different networks between 1979 and 2009.
“People always ask me, ‘Are you a coach, an analyst, or the video game guy?’” He commented during his Hall of Fame induction speech. “I am a coach, I have always been a coach.”
He began his career as an analyst at CBS after leaving the grid, in large part because of his fear of air travel. He and Pat Summerall became the network’s main commentary duo.
Madden later helped Fox gain credibility as a big-name network when he joined the company in 1994, then narrated games for ABC and NBC before retiring after Pittsburgh’s thrilling 27-23 win over Arizona in the 2009 Super Bowl. .
Burly, and somewhat disheveled, Madden earned a place in America’s hearts with an affable, understated style that was a breath of fresh air in a sports world of skyrocketing salaries and diva-like stars. He was traveling to games in his own bus due to being claustrophobic and he stopped flying. For some time, he gave a duck stuffed turkey, which was stuffed with chicken, as a gift to the most notable player at the Thanksgiving game for whom he was supposed to comment.
“Nobody loved football more than the coach. He was all football, “Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “It was an incredible voice for me and many others. There will never be another John Madden, we will forever be indebted to him for all he did to make football and the NFL what they are today. “
When he finally retired from the broadcast booth, his colleagues praised his passion, his preparation and his ability to explain a complicated game in the simplest terms.
“No one has made the sport more interesting, more relevant and more enjoyable to watch and listen to than John,” said narrator Al Michaels at the time.
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