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1936 – 2021
John Madden, maybe the only most recognizable persona within the historical past of the NFL, handed away on December 28 on the age of 85. Madden, who has been concerned with the professional soccer scene for over 5 a long time, may be finest identified to our readers because the figurehead of Digital Arts’ John Madden Soccer online game collection, which Madden has change into synonymous with since its inception in 1988.
Born in Austin, Minnesota in 1936, John Madden first hit the gridiron throughout his highschool years, ultimately receiving a university scholarship on the College of Oregon. Whereas Madden would ultimately be signed for the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles in 1958, extreme accidents from his faculty soccer profession would pressure his retirement earlier than he ever had the prospect to play professionally. Undaunted, Madden would transition into a training function within the Sixties, rising to the function of head coach for the Oakland Raiders — the youngest coach ever to go up a professional workforce — and would lead the Raiders to a Tremendous Bowl win in 1977.
After retiring in 1979, Madden moved on to what’s maybe his most iconic function, that of a sports activities broadcaster and commentator. Broadcasting on CBS, Madden labored alongside fellow commentator Pat Summerall for CBS Sports activities for over 20 years, earlier than shifting to FOX Sports activities within the mid-’90s, and ultimately ending his tv profession with NBC in 2009. Madden turned well-known for his larger-than-life supply fashion, eager analytical thoughts, and a slew of commentary gems equivalent to “On the finish of the sport, the workforce with essentially the most factors on the board goes to win”.
Madden’s fame and persona pushed past the game itself, and would see the broadcaster make movie star appearances on Saturday Night time Dwell, The Simpsons, and even rock band U2’s video for “Caught in a Second You Can’t Get Out Of”. For online game followers, nonetheless, John Madden will all the time be the face of EA Sports activities’ long-running and extremely widespread online game collection, with the broadcaster main his title, his likeness, and infrequently his voice to over 30 titles for an abundance of platforms. Madden himself took it with good humor that he was finest identified internationally as “the man from the video video games” over his spectacular record of precise sporting achievements.
Destructoid is just not a sports activities historical past web site, but the very fact we’ve introduced an obituary for John Madden reveals how intrinsically linked with video gaming he was, as a reputation and likeness for a blockbuster collection. Certainly, it’s completely fascinating how, in terms of the branding of sports activities sport franchises, you could have “PGA” for golf, “FIFA” for soccer, “WWE 2K” for pro-wrestling, “NBA 2K” for Basketball, and “MLB” or “RBI” for baseball…
…However in terms of pro-football video video games, no one calls it “NFL”.
Chris Moyse
Senior Editor – Chris has been enjoying video video games because the Nineteen Eighties. Former Saturday Night time Slam Grasp. Graduated from Galaxy Excessive with honors.
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