Madden watches football legacy live on.
John Madden watches his football legacy live on in his clan at Bishop O’Dowd High School
The headlights pop on, illuminating the track behind the northwest end zone, obstructed by a chain link fence. The SUV shifts into reverse and disappears into the night.
Few were aware of the presence of football royalty on this Saturday night. But, there was John Madden, age 84 and over a decade into retirement, with his binoculars in the front seat as if it were his own broadcast booth. The coach whose colorful 1970s Oakland Raiders teams left an indelible imprint on the East Bay — and whose name grew even more famous with the eponymous video game franchise and three-decade career as a broadcaster — was where he is on most game nights during football season these days, in his car, watching his lineage live on.
Jesse Madden, the youngest in the latest generation of this football family, plays quarterback for Bishop O’Dowd High. His dad, Mike, who enjoyed football success at the collegiate level, is in charge of the offensive line.
The youngest Madden has shown a preternatural ability to pick up a complex playbook. In this case, Jesse learned some
1,600 plays — with almost no in-person interaction with the coaching staff — as part of an offensive overhaul installed by new head coach David Perry.
“There aren’t many Madden quarterbacks, and Jesse always had a ball in his hand, whether it was a basketball, a baseball or a football,” John Madden told the Bay Area News Group this week.
“In Little League, he was a pitcher, and in Pop Warner a quarterback. He always threw. It’s who he was and who he is.”
With the same consistency that John attends his grandsons’ games (Jesse’s cousin Aiden plays offensive line, and Jesse was preceded by his older brother, Jack), the Madden clan was a constant presence at the Oakland Coliseum throughout Jesse’s childhood.
Jesse judiciously studied his grandfather’s teams, and some of John’s former players took notice. Cliff Branch, a standout receiver for those Raiders squads, retired more than a decade before Jesse was born. And yet, Jesse could recite Branch’s career statistics as if reading from an an encyclopedia, Mike said.
Until Branch died two years ago, he and Jesse would talk almost every Sunday, Mike said.
“Cliff would come into the box and, of course, Cliff would first acknowledge my mom … and then ‘Where’s Jesse Madden? Where’s Jesse Madden?’ and they would get together and talk,” Mike recalled of the family’s times at Raiders games.
“There’s not a lot of 7-, 8- or 9-year-old kids running around that know Cliff Branch was (number) 21 and he scored the winning touchdown down in that end zone against the Dolphins in ’74. And Jesse knows all that.”
More recently, Jesse has relished the opportunity to meet NFL quarterbacks such as Derek Carr, Gardner Minshew and Ryan Fitzpatrick. The scruffy beard that sticks out from behind his face mask is partially an homage to Fitzpatrick, he said. After meeting Minshew last year, Madden said he rocked an honorary mustache.
His teammates were impressed by his photo with Leonard Fournette, but mostly, they’ve taken notice of how little ego Jesse carries despite his last name.
“I think, coming into school, there were a lot of, ‘Oh, John Madden’s grandson is coming to our school,’ ” said Ben Martin, a senior receiver who met Jesse shortly after the youngest Madden transferred to the Oakland private school as a sophomore.
“I was interested, especially with the last name, to see what he would act like,” said Tyler Hunter, another senior receiver. “I expected someone with somewhat of a large ego, but that’s not what I’ve experienced at all.”
“Once I got to know Jesse,” Martin added, “he’s a super down-to-earth guy, and the name has nothing to do with anything.”
When the pandemic struck last spring, Perry had just been hired to replace head coach Napoleon Kaufman, the former Raiders running back. Perry intended to overhaul the offensive playbook with a shotgun system and more than 1,600 plays. Yet, Perry had no way to meet with his team.
When O’Dowd convened in the fall for its first inperson
workouts, Jesse had memorized the entire playbook, Perry said. He also took it upon himself to organize small workouts at parks around the East Bay over the summer.
It began with Jesse and one or two receivers — “the guys who were catching the balls Saturday night,” Jesse said — and eventually grew to include defensive players and even offensive lineman Matthew Shaddle, who would snap the ball for hours at a time.
“His work ethic is amazing. Even with nothing going on because of COVID, (Jesse) practiced every day like he was going to play,” John Madden said. “I’d just watch him and say, ‘Jeez, he’s doing all this and to not have a senior year.’ But it worked out. It’s not the best, and it’s not what you’d imagine, but under the circumstances, it’s the best situation.”
Perry, who also acts as O’Dowd’s play-caller, said he expects big things from his starting quarterback this season.
“Jesse’s so smart,” Perry said. “I didn’t see the kid for nine months. … We walk into games with 120 plays. We break it down into concepts. And the quarterback has the toughest job of memorizing all that. … He had it down.”
In O’Dowd’s regular-season opener last weekend at San Ramon Valley in Danville, Madden completed 32 of his 46 pass attempts and threw for more than 330 yards in a losing effort.
After this season, he said he has an offer to walk on at Michigan for coach Jim Harbaugh.
Prior to the game, it was Mike’s job to secure a parking spot with a view for the rest of the Madden clan, including John and his wife, Virginia. For decades, the front seat of a vehicle has provided John’s preferred viewing angle, perched comfortably on a padded seat with a pair of binoculars in hand.
Dating back to Mike’s childhood, he recalled, John would pull up to his Little League or Pop Warner games in his truck and watch from center field or the side of the road.
“It’s still a football game to him,” Mike said. “He can see everything, and he still thinks like a broadcaster or a coach and wants to talk about it afterward.”
The location on this particular Saturday was unremarkable — at field-level, relegated to the far end of the field.
On other nights, Madden gets the best seat in the house, perched in his SUV above the stadium. At O’Dowd, a parking structure that overlooks the field gives Madden a bird’s-eye view. Quirky stadiums at Las Lomas and Piedmont high schools have provided the best visiting experiences, Mike said. He’s yet to meet an athletic director who wasn’t eager to make accommodations.
The Madden name comes with some perks.
Jesse, the affable young quarterback has had no problems making friends since transferring to O’Dowd as a sophomore. But for a few weeks every year Jesse is undoubtedly the most popular kid in school. That’s when the early-release copies of the latest Madden video game arrive at his house.
“During those weeks, all of a sudden, there are the guys who are his friends and there are the guys who don’t know him very well but all of a sudden approach him,” Martin, the O’Dowd receiver, said.