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John
Madden In 1986,
Trip Hawkins, the CEO of Electronic Arts met with John Madden as
he was travelling by train to broadcast an NFL game. Hawkins and
various EA programmers spoke to Madden about collaborating on
the first PC football game. Madden liked the ideas he was
hearing, but when EA suggested that the game feature two teams
of seven players, Madden wouldn't hear of it. "If it's not
11-on-11, it's not real football," he said. "I won't
put my name on it if it's not real." At
that moment, the direction for the Madden franchise was set -
even though it sent EA back to the drawing board for another two
years before they could perfect a game with 22 players. It
is that decision to "make it real" and the tremendous
quality associated with his game, that we induct Coach John
Madden into the PCFootball Hall of Fame.
Legendary NFL broadcaster
John Madden heads into his third season as an expert analyst for
Monday Night Football. Madden, who is synonymous with NFL
football for millions of fans nationwide, brings his ability to
explain the game's finer points along with his unique sense of
humor to MNF after 21 seasons as a game analyst for CBS
and Fox.
The National Academy of Television Arts
and Sciences has honored Madden with an unprecedented 13
Outstanding Sports Personality/Analyst Emmy Awards, the most
recent in recognition for his work during the 1999 season. In
all, Madden has been nominated for a record 15 Emmy Awards. In
addition, the American Sportscasters Association named him
Sports Personality of the Year in 1985 and 1992, and in 1982,
Madden became the first NFL analyst to receive the Touchdown
Club of America's prestigious Golden Mike Award.
Prior to joining the broadcasting
ranks, Madden had an outstanding career as head coach of the
NFL's Oakland Raiders. He guided the Raiders to an overall
record of 103-32-7, leading the team to seven AFC Western
Division titles and a victory over the Minnesota Vikings in
Super Bowl XI. Madden's winning percentage (.750) is the best of
any head coach in NFL history.
A linebacker coach when he began his
NFL coaching career with Oakland in 1967, Madden became the head
coach in 1969 at age 33, the youngest head coach in the American
Football League. Madden retired in 1979 and started his
football-broadcasting career at CBS in 1980.
Before coaching in Oakland, Madden was
the defensive coordinator at San Diego State from 1964-1966 when
the Aztecs were ranked first among small colleges with a 26-4
record. From 1960-1964 Madden coached at Hancock Junior College
in Santa Maria, Calif.
Madden started on both the offensive
and defensive lines as a player for California Polytechnic
College at San Luis Obispo in 1957 and 1958 and was voted to the
All-Conference team. He was also a catcher on the school's
baseball team. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1959
and a Master of Arts degree in 1961, both from Cal Poly. The
Philadelphia Eagles selected him in the 21st round of the 1958
NFL draft, but a knee injury in his rookie season prematurely
ended his career.
Madden is also the author of several
books. His latest effort is a cookbook titled "John
Madden's Ultimate Tailgating" released in 1998. His first
four books -- "Hey Wait a Minute, I wrote a Book",
"One Knee Equals Two Feet (and Everything Else You Wanted
To Know About Football)", "One Size Doesn't Fit
All", and "All Madden", each written with New
York Times sports columnist Dave Anderson -- all reached the New
York Times best-seller list.
Born April 10, 1936 in Austin,
Minnesota, Madden was raised in Daly City, Calif. He now resides
in Pleasanton, Calif., with his wife, Virginia. The couple has
two sons.
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