Unexpectedly, John Madden — who was a Hall of Fame coach, broadcaster, and video game creator — passed away on Tuesday morning. Madden was 85 years old.
NFL Commission Roger Goodell announced the sudden passing of Madden in a statement:
“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.
“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.”
Madden finished his 10 years as the head coach of the then Oakland Raiders with the highest percentage in NFL history among coaches that have won 100 games with an overall .759 winning percentage. Under his leadership, the Raiders played in seven AFC title games — five straight at one point.
In addition, Madden led Oakland to its first championship after beating the Minnesota Vikings 32-14 to win Super Bowl XI.
In 2006, Madden was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. After he retired from coaching, he transitioned into being a broadcaster. Madden commentated NFL games for over 20 seasons on FOX, CBS, ABC, and NBC. Furthermore, he won 16 Emmys as Outstanding Sports Personality/Sport Event Analyst.
Starting back in 1988, the legendary coach created the video game, John Madden Football. While the name of the video game is now simply Madden NFL, it is one of the best-selling sports video game series.
