NFL icon John Madden decides to quit broadcasting

By Calvin Palmer

Sunday night football games on TV will not be the same next season following the decision by John Madden to quit as the analyst on NBC’s Sunday night NFL game.

The popular broadcaster has decided to take a permanent time out after three decades of game analysis.

For the past three seasons he has featured on NBC’s Sunday night NFL game. His last broadcast was the Super Bowl between the Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers.

“It’s time,” Madden said. “I’m 73 years old. My 50th wedding anniversary is this fall. I have two great sons and their families and their five grandchildren are at an age now when they know when I’m home and, more importantly, when I’m not.”

Such is his love of the game and the job that it took him two months of careful deliberation to reach his decision.

His down-to-earth approach, knowledgeable insight and avuncular manner made him a favorite with football fans.

His Madden NFL Football is the top-selling sports video game of all time.

Madden’s playing career in pro football began in 1958 with the Philadelphia Eagles but was cut short after 12 months when he suffered a career-ending knee injury.

He turned to coaching at Buffalo State College in 1960 but it was his success in making San Diego State Aztecs a formidable team that led to his appointment as linebackers coach with the Oakland Raiders in 1967.

Two years later he was named as the Raiders head coach and at the age of 32 became pro football’s youngest head coach in what was then the American Football League.

In his 13 years with the Raiders, Madden led the team to its first Super Bowl win, a 32-14 victory over the Minnesota Vikings in January 1977.

In 1979 he joined CBS and worked with the network until 1994 when it lost broadcast rights to NFL games.

He joined Fox, leaving in 2002 to become the lead analyst for ABC’s Monday Night Football.

Madden joined NBC in 2006 when it inaugurated a prime-time Sunday game. In the same year he was inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

[Based on a report by the Associated Press.]