Legendary NFL coach, broadcaster, and namesake to video gaming John Madden has died at the age of 85, the NFL has announced. Madden’s playing career with the Philadelphia Eagles ended before it began in 1958 due to a knee injury, and two years later he entered the college football coaching world, before returning to the NFL as the Oakland Raiders linebacker coach in 1967. Two years later Madden was named the team’s head coach, and in 1977 led the Raiders to their first ever Super Bowl victory. Madden retired in 1979 and took to the broadcast booth for CBS that same year, his broadcast career taking him from CBS to Fox in 1993, then to ABC in 2002, and finally at NBC between 2005 and 2009, after which he retired. Starting in 1988, Madden lent his name and expertise to the annual Madden NFL video game series and – starting in the mid-90s when technology was finally good enough to play recorded voice samples on gaming consoles – his voice commentary as well, until 2009 when he retired. The game series has sold more than a quarter billion copies in the 32 years since its first publication by Electronic Arts.
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