I’m a Raiders fan. I have been for as long as I can remember watching football on TV. I remember living in Stockton, CA and driving six hours with my dad to watch the Raiders play in Los Angeles, and then driving back home all in the same day.
I didn’t know John Madden as a coach on the football field; I grew up watching him on television in the broadcasting booth. I remember feeling a sense of pride knowing that he coached the Raiders to a Super Bowl and now he was on TV every Sunday coaching the world on the intricacies of football. My cousins and I used to love his scribble-filled, yet simplistic commentary.
Following the games, we would run off and play John Madden Football for hours on end, quoting his comical, yet “sensical” explanations.
As I grew into my young adulthood, I could still count on John Madden to broadcast some of the best Super Bowls. He had a very familiar voice, one so recognizable that Frank Caliendo made a career off of it 🙂
I could also count on Madden NFL coming out with the latest victim on the cover of the game. Yes, the Madden Curse was real.
John Madden was bigger than Raider Nation, he was bigger than the broadcasting booth. John Madden is an American Icon, who will forever live in the halls of Canton as a Coach. Yes, a coach. He was a coach that affected so many lives from Allan Hancock College to San Diego State to Oakland to our living rooms.
As with my childhood, you will be missed. RIP Coach Madden, and thank you for answering the call.