Published in Kankakee Daily Journal, Wednesday, February 2, 2022
Editor’s Note: This is a newly updated column that Dr. Daake wrote in October 2017.
It is never easy to lose a “friend” even if we never personally knew them. But on December 28, 2021, we lost Big John Madden. He dramatically transformed American football first as the fire-brand coach storming down the sidelines as coach of the Oakland Raiders. His wildly successful Madden football video game has sold millions of copies and earned billions of dollars of revenue for Electronic Arts. I did not know until recently that John was born in Austin, Minnesota, about 50 miles north of where I grew up and, of course, home to Hormel. I suspect John had more than a few slices of Spam in his early childhood.
According to Wikipedia, “After retiring from coaching, Madden was a color commentator for NFL telecasts from 1979 to 2009, which earned him 16 Sports Emmy Awards. Madden appeared on all four major American television networks, providing commentary for games broadcast by CBS, Fox, ABC, and NBC.” Beyond that boisterous, enthusiastic exterior was a man of high character and concern for others. Let me share two reflections about John from his associates that were recently in Sports Illustrated.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in a statement said “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.”
From the renowned broadcaster Al Michaels: “John Madden made everyone around him better.” Al went on to joke about how Madden’s wife Virginia once took pilot lessons, while her husband had an intense fear of being in the air. Maybe that’s why the two of them got along so well for over 60 years of marriage.
Madden’s first lesson in life for us: Do what you really love! The fact that Madden ended up a football legend seems unlikely if you know his story. As it turns out, he and the legendary USC Coach John Robinson were boyhood friends and rivals from age 10. Both decided to play football at the University of Oregon, but Madden left after one year; he didn’t like the rainy, cloudy weather. Madden completed his bachelor’s and master’s teaching degrees and football career at Cal Poly. He was good enough to get drafted in the 21st round by Philadelphia but was injured in the first year and so ended his professional playing career.
Lesson 2: Learn everything you can from the best people. Madden loved football and spent a lot of time on his own with the legendary quarterback NormVan Brocklin watching endless football game tapes. Eventually, Madden got hired by Al Davis of the Oakland Raiders and worked his way up the coaching ranks until he was offered the head coach position in 1969. Madden was an incredible student and learner. While he could turn the air blue with his yelling and stomping, he was much-loved by his players — well, most of the time.
Lesson 3: Persistence, persistence, persistence. As a team, you are expected to win games. But eventually, the standard becomes winning your division and conference. Year after year, the Steelers foiled the Raiders. As a matter of fact, the Raiders reached and lost five AFC Title games in seven years. Finally, the Raiders beat the Steelers and went on to crush the Vikings (my childhood team of choice, dang it!). At that point, Madden, with little fanfare, decided to move on. He didn’t quit; he didn’t resign; he just, in a low-key “Forrest Gump” sort of way, decided that was all he had to say about that.
Lesson 4: Flexibility in fulfilling your passion. Doing what you love might take different forms. Madden had become quite the celebrity and started doing the Miller Lite commercials. His bursting through paper walls also extended to “Saturday Night Live” and many other gimmicks. He says he might have burst through more paper walls than any human being on Earth.
Because of his rising fame and especially his extraordinary analytical mind for football, CBS offered him a gig to do a few games. He admittedly was pretty bad at first, but being teamed up with Pat Summerall, he developed into a celebrity analyst in his own right. He went on to work with Summerall for 22 years.
Then he went on to work with Al Michaels and the elite in the broadcast world. But again, after a few years, he knew when to move on. With little fanfare, according to Michaels, he announced he was done. Madden also wrote several best-selling books. And, he joked, who would have thought that most people know his name from his pioneering video football game rather than from his time as a player, coach, pitchman, or broadcaster.
Lesson 5: Luck comes to those who work hard. Hard work is part of the formula, but so is focus. Said Madden, “Self-praise is for losers. Be a winner. Stand for something. Always have class, and be humble.” In 2006, after being a part of the game for more than 50 years, he was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame. Very few coaches are ever afforded that honor. Several years ago a special film about Mr. Madden was made as part of the series–“John Madden: A Football Life.” The film impacted me most keenly when I heard his players, fellow coaches, friend Robinson and, especially, his sons who used terms such as love, character, integrity, and being true to himself. Those are attributes all of us can use, not to have a great football life, but an extraordinary life of our own where we make the world better for others.
Don Daake, MBA, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus holds degrees from Kansas State University, the University of Iowa, and the Florida State University. Don is an avid fan of both college and professional football. He can be contacted through the Daily Journal at editors@daily-journal.com or directly at ddaake@olivet.edu.
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