Late John Madden To Be Honored By Namesake Video Game Franchise

By Jason Hall

June 1, 2022

Football - NFL Hall of Fame Induction - John Madden
Photo: Getty Images

Late Pro Football Hall of Famer John Madden will grace the cover of his namesake video game franchise for the first time in more than 20 years.

EA Sports' official Twitter account for the Madden NFL franchise shared an updated version of the original John Madden Football game cover released in 1988 with, "the #Madden23 cover..Coach," sharing a link to a full trailer reveal scheduled for Thursday (June 2).

The account also shared a clip of several NFL players, including Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes, discussing Madden's legacy through coaching, broadcasting and the video game series.

Madden served as the namesake of EA Sports' popular NFL video game franchise, initially lending his voice and likeness to the series in 1988.

The beloved football ambassador died unexpectedly in December 2021 at the age of 85, the NFL announced in an official statement shared at the time.

"On behalf of the entire NFL family, we extend our condolences to Virginia, Mike, Joe and their families," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in the statement. "We all know him as the Hall of Fame coach of the Oakland Raiders and broadcaster who worked for every major network, but more than anything, he was a devoted husband, father and grandfather.
"Nobody loved football more than Coach. He was football. He was an incredible sounding board to me and so many others. There will never be another John Madden, and we will forever be indebted to him for all he did to make football and the NFL what it is today."

Madden led the then-Oakland Raiders to a Super Bowl XI victory over the Minnesota Vikings in 1977 and retired in 1978 with a 103-32-7 career coaching record and a 76.3% winning percentage, the highest in NFL history.

The Minnesota native went on to a legendary broadcasting career as the first NFL color analyst to contribute to all four major networks: CBS (1979-93), FOX (1994-2001), ABC (2002-05) and NBC (2006-08), before retiring ahead of the 2008 season.

Madden was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his coaching career in 2006.

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