Put Me In, Coach!
Remembering John Madden
Who doesn’t remember John Madden? If you’re one of the few, click here.
The news of John Madden’s fatal heart attack on Dec. 28, 2021, sure dimmed the glow of Holiday Cheer. We had shared some really good times! Madden was not one to wallow in remorse; always high energy, high spirits, and high times; “bigger than life”, as they say.
There was a boatload of stories about Coach Madden. This was mine…
It was December, 1989. John Madden had a syndicated radio commentary on the upcoming weekend's pro games being played around the country. I don't know how many stations carried it; he did ‘personalized’ shows for Major Market stations and he was on the Ross & Wilson Z-Morning Zoo every Friday morning through the Super Bowl. We’d record the segment when John called in after our Thursday show. Invariably, we'd wind up BS'ing with him about something going on in the League before and after the recording. This particular weekend, he and Pat Summerall were coming to Giants Stadium in the New Jersey Meadowlands. I told him before the Meadowlands Complex was developed, it was part of the Manhattan land fill. Fires burned constantly. A trip into Manhattan required holding your breath from Rutherford to the Lincoln Tunnel! Before that, it was where my grandparents took our hogs to be slaughtered. Needless to say, Coach Madden was blown away, but he wondered if maybe that history had some effect on the Giant’s playing! Somehow, the subject of food came up and I mentioned my 1986 CIA Award-Winning Chili.
BAM!
"Hey! I LOVE chili!...
“Excellent! How about I make a batch and we can chow down after the game?...
“Great! We can meet 'n eat in the Madden Cruiser!...
“You’re on!...
After the Sunday game (Giants vs Somebody), John Madden, his two drivers, Sean Landeta (Giant punter), his date, my wife, and I put away the entire cauldron, along with lots and lots of beers! For those 4 hours, John Madden told amazing stories of games and players, other coaches, refs, and Pat Summerall with the same boundless energy and laugh-out-loud entertainment he had in the booth! Over the next 3 seasons, we tried again and again to set up a redux, but never could get our schedules aligned.
But that sunny, cold Sunday afternoon, in the Madden Cruiser parked out behind Giants Stadium in the historical Meadowlands, we created some of those indelible memories forever embedded in my 50 years in radio.
Great Coach. Great Talent. Great Man.
Glad you loved the chili, Coach. RIP.
BW
(If you’d like to make something great to finish out the football season and warm yer innards, the same recipe is on pgs 88-90 in my book, “50 Stories-50 Years in Radio” – which also makes a great stocking stuffer for everyone who ever listened to the radio or reads!)
He was one of the greatest commentators ever, although Howard Cosell, will always be my favorite, especially when he covered boxing.
Now Madden is more famous among younger people for the endless slew of video games with his name on them.
I've always wondered if he got royalties or if it was an all one package deal, hope he went for the royalties. They have sold something like a hundred a fifty million copies of the Madden series games, it's the number one sports game and close to the top of all time top selling video game series and sales just keep getting stronger all the time.
From what I understand, the game has influenced both players and coaches, which is just bizarre.
I can't imagine that he would have ever guessed that someday he could be better known in the video gaming industry, than he is by younger sports fans. Still it was a brilliant marketing move by everyone involved, good for the league and good for the gamers and hopefully really good for Madden's estate.
PS: Brian, the Terlingua, Texas Chili Cookoff started because some New York Yankee claimed he made the best chili in the country. Was that you? The Texans took offense and started the cookoff, inviting the New Yorker to compete. Video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfkTFb3Izpk