Athletes - John Madden

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	Athletes - John Madden

John Earl Madden (born April 10, 1936 in Austin, Minnesota) is a former American football coach for the Oakland Raiders who later became an extremely popular TV football announcer, author, and commercial pitchman for various products and retailers. He won a Super Bowl as the Raiders head coach on January 9, 1977, but is perhaps best known for his nearly three-decade career as a broadcaster. That subsequent profession resulted in countless endorsement deals, including the popular, NFL-branded home video game series that has carried his name since 1991: Madden NFL.

He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame on February 4, 2006.

Early life

Madden grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area attending high school at Jefferson High in Daly City. He played college football and baseball at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo, California. In football, he played both sides of the line, winning all-conference honors at offensive tackle, while as a member of the school's baseball team, he played catcher. Madden was drafted in the 21st round by the National Football League's Philadelphia Eagles in 1958, but suffered a knee injury in training camp and never played in a professional game.

Career as a coach

Madden began his coaching career while working on his master's degree at his alma mater. After two years as an assistant coach at Hancock Junior College in 1960 and 1961, he was elevated to head coach the following year. Following an 8-1 season in 1963, he was hired by Don Coryell as a defensive assistant at San Diego State University, where he served until 1966. During that final campaign, the Aztecs were ranked among the top small college teams in the country.

Building on that success, Madden was hired as linebackers coach for the Oakland Raiders in 1967, and played a role in helping the team reach Super Bowl II during that first year. After Raiders head coach John Rauch resigned to take the same position with the Buffalo Bills, Madden was named the Raiders' head coach on February 4, 1969. With his hiring, he became the youngest head coach in the National Football League.

Over the next 10 seasons, Madden guided the Raiders to 103 victories and 32 losses (plus 3 ties), including seven division titles and six seasons of 10 wins or more. That sustained success helped establish the team as an NFL power and gave Madden the highest regular season winning percentage (.759) for a coach in NFL history with over 100 career wins. In addition, his overall winning percentage (including playoff games) ranked second behind only legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi. Madden and Lombardi also won the Super Bowl and never had a losing season as a head coach.

However, the team endured continued frustration over coming up short in the playoffs, especially against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Five title-game losses in seven years left the Raiders with the same image that the Dallas Cowboys had previously had: the inability to win "the big one." Despite a 12-1-1 mark in 1969, the team lost 17-7 to the Kansas City Chiefs in the final American Football League championship game. Three years later, what appeared to be a last-minute victory over the Steelers instead became a part of football lore when Franco Harris' "Immaculate Reception" gave Pittsburgh a 13-7 win. Then, in 1974, after defeating the two-time defending Super Bowl winner Miami Dolphins in dramatic fashion, the Raiders lost again to the Steelers in the AFC Championship game.

In 1976, the team's luck finally changed when the Raiders put together a 13-1 regular season, escaped the first-round of the playoffs with a dramatic victory over the New England Patriots, then defeated the Steelers for the AFC Championship. Then, on January 9, 1977, Madden's team finally captured their first Super Bowl with a convincing 32-14 win over the Minnesota Vikings.

The Raiders lost the AFC Championship Game in 1977 to the Denver Broncos, with Madden battling an ulcer for most of the season. After a 9-7 campaign in 1978, which kept the team from making the playoffs for the first time in seven years, Madden resigned. Citing health reasons during the January 4 press conference, the 42-year-old Madden stated that the years of stress had given him "the body of a 70-year-old," according to his doctors.

Often obscured by images of his wild rantings on the sidelines during games was Madden's concern for players. One of the prime examples of this attitude came in the weeks following a Raiders' preseason game against the New England Patriots on August 13, 1978. New England receiver Darryl Stingley was permanently paralyzed by a hit from the Raiders' Jack Tatum, with Madden offering his family's home to Stingley's wife, who stayed there while waiting to be transferred to Chicago to begin rehabilitation.

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Athletes - John Madden

Early life

Career as a coach

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