NFL Icon John Madden Dies at 85; Cause of Death Remains Unknown

Las Vegas Raiders Honor Hall of Fame NFL Coach, Broadcaster John Madden

(Photo : Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - DECEMBER 28: A tribute to former Raiders head coach, Pro Football Hall of Fame member and broadcaster John Madden is displayed on the side of Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders, after news of his death at the age of 85 on December 28, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Madden coached the Oakland Raiders for 10 seasons and won the team's first championship with a win over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl XI in 1977. Owner and managing general partner Mark Davis of the Las Vegas Raiders lit the Al Davis Memorial Torch inside the stadium before the organization turned off all the exterior lights, except for the memorial message, in honor of Madden.

NFL icon John Madden unexpectedly died on Tuesday at 85, causing a reverberating chain of grief, including several celebrities, sports figures, and entertainers who took to social media platforms to remember the legendary head coach and face of the video game "Madden NFL."

Madden, whose cause of death was not immediately revealed to the public, rose to fame as the coach of the Oakland Raiders. The iconic legend made it to seven AFC title games and won the Super Bowl after the 1976 season.

Remembering John Madden

In a Twitter post, Clay Travis, a political commentator and sports journalist, said that Madden was the "greatest, and most influential, sports broadcaster of all time." He said that the NFL coach was an absolute legend in sports and argued that people will continue to play the video game franchise named after him for generations to come.

Recently, Madden was featured on "All-Madden," a FOX Sports documentary that aired on Christmas Day. The film detailed the behind the scenes of the NFL icon's coaching days and later an interview with the legend himself, the first he had in more than a decade, Fox News reported.

In a statement after the news of Madden's passing, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said that nobody loved football more than Coach. The official said that the world would never be able to have another John Madden and that the entire league was indebted to the late legend for what he did for football and making the NFL what it is today.

Among NFL coaches who have taken charge of more than 100 games in the professional scene, Madden achieved the highest winning percentage. But the legendary icon would most likely be remembered primarily for his career in commentary, which lasted for three decades and began after he retired from coaching at the age of 42.

The Legendary Icon

Madden traveled to games in his own bus due to his claustrophobia, becoming famous for his unpretentious style. Madden NFL, the video game franchise that was named after the late coach, has been published by EA Sports since 1988. The franchise became exceptionally influential to the point that some players and coaches formed new tactics on the professional stage while playing the games, BBC reported.

In 1979, Madden began his broadcasting at CBS and stayed there for 15 years, introducing his Thanksgiving tradition of bestowing a turducken to the winning team. But later on, three other major networks opted to employ the legendary icon because, at one point or another, they all needed him.

In the mid-1990s, Fox employed Madden to establish credibility for its fledgling sports division, followed by ABC in 2002 in an attempt to boost "Monday Night Football." Afterward, Madden went to NBC when the agency regained football in 2006." He's the best analyst in the history of sports. He's able to cut through from people my age, who remembered him as a coach, all the way to 12-year-olds", said the then-chairman of NBC Universal Sports, Dick Ebersol, the New York Times reported.