John Madden, legendary coach and pioneer of video games, has died at 85
John Madden, 85, is dead. He was the name of EA Sports’ hugely successful Madden NFL franchise. This news was announced by an NFL press release. It stated that Madden’s death this morning was unexpected. Madden was a broadcaster and a Super Bowl-winning coach for the Oakland (now Las Vegas Raiders) franchise.
Madden, a Minnesota native, grew up playing football at both the high school and college levels. Madden was unable to compete at the professional level due to injuries. However, he joined Raiders as an assistant coach in 1967 and eventually became a head coach in 1969. As a head coach, he never lost and led the Raiders in five conference championships games over seven years. The Raiders won Super Bowl XI in 1977. Madden quit coaching two years later in order to spend more time with his children. He cited burnout as the main reason for his retirement. Madden was inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (2006).
From 1979 to 2008, Madden worked as a color commentator on NFL football games for CBS, Fox Sports and NBC. His on-field insights and exclamations such as “BOOM!” when a major hit occur are well-known. Madden is also responsible for the first American sports broadcast using a telestrator, a technology that he would popularize and which still remains a fixture in sports broadcasts today.
Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins approached Madden to endorse a digital football simulation he was developing to imitate older pen-and-paper sports simulations. Madden was initially expected to just lend his name and likeness, but he ended up actively participating in early design feedback. Madden refused to play unless the game was a realistic simulation of real football. After years of delays, false starts, and even hiring Bethesda Softworks as a contractor to finish the game (which led to several lawsuits — that’s a different story), John Madden Football was finally released for the Apple II in 1988. Madden provided EA with realistic playbooks.
John Madden football would continue to be published in yearly installments beginning in 1990. However, Madden NFL would become the title in 1993 after EA obtained the first license to use the NFL for the series. This naming tradition was only changed in 1997 when Madden Football 64 made the franchise’s debut on Nintendo 64. Acclaim held an exclusive NFL license for Nintendo 64 during the 1997 season.
Madden was a part-time teacher prior to becoming a broadcaster. He felt that the game could serve as a learning tool for both casual viewers and future players. EA added realistic features to the game in 1998. This included Franchise Mode, which allowed Madden to run an NFL team for several consecutive seasons. Since its inception, the Madden franchise sold more than 150 million copies and generated billions of dollars for EA. John Madden’s wife Virginia and their sons Joseph, and Michael, are still with him.
