NFL Honors ICONIC Raider John Madden
The National Football League honored Hall of Fame Coach John Madden of the Oakland Raiders, who was also an award-winning TV analyst, during all three games televised on Thanksgiving Day.
It was the second annual John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration. It was well represented in the games where the Detroit Lions hosted the Green Bay Packers on FOX, the Dallas Cowboys hosted the Washington Commanders on CBS, and the Seattle Seahawks hosted the San Francisco 49ers on NBC.
Madden, who played for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1959 before sustaining a career-ending knee injury after being selected in the 21st round of the NFL Draft out of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, served as an assistant coach at San Diego State and with the Raiders before Managing General Partner Al Davis named him head coach of the Raiders in 1968 at the age of 32.
All Madden did was post a 103-32-7 record in 10 seasons as head coach of the Silver and Black, the highest winning percentage by a coach for a decade in NFL history, and he led the Raiders to a 32-14 victory over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl XI at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
"I got hurt in my rookie year with the Philadelphia Eagles -- a knee injury -- and I couldn't play,” Madden, who passed away in 2021 at 85, once said. “While I was rehabbing (quarterback), Norm Van Brocklin would be watching films and would explain what was happening to me. I ended up with a degree in teaching, and my love for football meshed with teaching.”
John Madden is not simply a Las Vegas Raiders ICON, he is an American one as well.
© Kirby Lee | 2015 Aug 8
Madden, who went to the Marconi School of Broadcasting for training after his coaching career ended at 43, became one of the best-ever football analysts while working for CBS, Fox, NBC, and ABC from 1979 to 2008 before retiring.
As good as he was in all games, Madden is most remembered for calling 20 games on Thanksgiving when he presented the Player of the Game with some of his famous Turducken, a deboned turkey stuffed with a deboned duck, stuffed with a chicken, and it became a holiday delicacy for many people watching on TV.
“There is no place that I would rather be today on Thanksgiving than right here, right now, at a football game,” Madden once said. “There are just certain things that go together: the turkey, the family, the tradition, football. ... And we have it all today.”
The Madden tradition was continued last week when players from the winning teams were provided a turkey leg to chew on after post-game interviews before they headed back to their locker rooms.
In addition, each Player of the Game received a $10,000 donation from the NFL Foundation to be given to a high school or youth football program in their name because youth football was important to Madden.
“It’s great to be a part of it and reflect on how much my Dad was a part of all these Thanksgiving games with so many Americans who want to watch football on this day,” said Joe Madden, his son.
A patch featuring a silhouette of Madden was displayed on the jersey of every player in all three games on Thursday, a coin featuring a silhouette of Madden on one side (heads) and a six-legged turducken on the reverse side (tails) was used for the coin toss at the games and “John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration" stencils were placed on the sidelines in Ford Field in Detroit, AT&T Stadium in Dallas and Lumen Field in Seattle.
John Madden would be so proud that his love for Thanksgiving football lives on.
The Silver and Black will return home to Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas to take on the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, December 10, at 4:05 p.m. EST/1:05 p.m. PST.
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