Jon Madden Bio
John Earl Madden was born on April 10, 1936. He is a former player in the National Football League and a former NFL head coach with the Oakland Raiders. Madden was a sports broadcaster with Pat Summerall in the 1980s and 1990s, on CBS and later on FOX. He was also the final color commentator for ABC’s Monday Night Football prior to it moving to ESPN in 2006. His final regular role was as a observer for NBC’s Sunday Night Football. He retired from broadcasting in 2009 so as to spend additional time with his family. In 2006, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in acknowledgement of his coaching job. He is also widely acknowledged for the long-running Madden NFL computer game series he has backed and fronted since 1988.
An excellent football player in high school, he advanced to play college football at the University of Oregon and the College of San Mateo. He then transferring to Calif. Polytechnic State University where he played both offense and defense. He earned his Bachelors in 1959 and Masters in1961. He gained all-conference awards as offensive tackle. Additionally, he was a catcher with Cal Poly’s baseball squad. Madden was drafted by the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles in 1958. He damaged his knee in training camp a year later which ended his playing career before it ever started.
In 1960, he became an assistant coach at Allan Hancock College and advanced to head coach in 1962. Following the 1963 season, he was employed as a defensive assistant at San Diego State University, where he worked until 1966. Madden was hired as linebackers coach for the Oakland Raiders in 1967. He aided the team in reacheaching Super Bowl II that season. A year later, after the Raider’s head coach resigned, Madden was named the head coach, becoming the NFL’s youngest head coach at the age of thirty-two.
Madden’s Raiders lost 5 AFC title games in 7 yrs. Then, on January nine, 1977, Madden’s Raiders finally captured their 1st Super Bowl title with a win over the Minnesota Vikings. The following season, the Raiders lost the AFC Championship Game to the Denver Broncos. Madden battled an ulcer for most of the season and retired at the end of the season.
Madden retired as a Super Bowl gaining head coach and was the most youthful coach of all time to accomplish 100 career regular season wins, a record he gained in only ten full seasons of coaching. Madden’s general winning percent including playoff games ranks first in NFL history. He won a Super Bowl and never had got a losing season as a head coach.
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