Those closest to Madden remember favorite moments on Thanksgiving Day
LOS ANGELES — The stories people tell about John Madden are like the side dishes at Thanksgiving dinner.
They’re memorable, comforting, warm and, though not meals in themselves, give you a flavor for this largerthan-life character who made the dizzying ascent from NFL coach to popculture icon.
Madden, who died three days after last Christmas, was to be honored by the NFL on Thanksgiving, with special broadcast tributes during the games on CBS, Fox and NBC, all networks for whom he worked.
Whether it was using the telestrator to diagram how the New York Giants would dump a Gatorade bucket onto the head of victorious coach Bill Parcells, using the side of his hand like a knife to cut into a turducken or simply turning the broadcast booth into the Temple of Boom!, Madden always left a lasting impression.
“John would say something on the air that would take 12 seconds, and people would still be talking about it 40 years later,” said Drew Esocoff, who directed those “Sunday Night Football” games called by Al Michaels and Madden.
In keeping with that, The Los Angeles Times reached out to an array of people who knew Madden best to collect stories about him, among them NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, former Raiders offensive lineman Henry Lawrence, Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning, Michaels and Madden’s son, Mike.
Some of their favorite stories:
BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD
Manning was an Indianapolis Colts rookie in 1998, and his grandfather immediately wanted to know when the No. 1 Fox broadcast team of Madden and Pat Summerall would be calling one of his games.
“They just don’t do 3-13 teams, Pa-Pa,” the quarterback explained after the season.
The next season was a different story, and the Colts were on their way to a 13-3 finish. In Week 8, the Cowboys came to town as did Madden and Summerall.
Typically before a game, Manning would sit for an interview with the broadcast crew on Friday, but Madden was delayed and had to postpone until Saturday morning.
“We had a team meeting
at 8:30, so Madden and I were going to meet at 7:45 that morning to do our production meeting,” Manning recalled. “I get in there and he’s got me up there on the board, I’m drawing up routes, he’s asking me what I’m looking for when we do our audibles. I feel like I’m at the combine trying to show a coach what I know about offenses. But this is Madden the broadcaster that’s got me all over the board. Next thing you know, it’s 8:29 and our PR guy comes in and says, ‘Hey, Peyton, you gotta go.’ (Sarcastically) Thanks for getting me one minute before.”
Manning ran down the hall to the team meeting but it was too late. The door was closed.
“I was not going to walk in there late, but I figured it was OK because Madden had me drawing up plays,” he said. “But it ended up not giving me a valid excuse.”
Good thing for Manning the Colts wound up winning.
LIFE OF THE PARTY
The first broadcast Cris Collinsworth did as an NBC studio host was a Cincinnati preseason game and Madden was in the booth. Collinsworth played for the Bengals and still lives in the area, so he and his wife, Holly, had a small party at their home the night before the game. Once their friends and neighbors heard Madden would be stopping by, they too happened to meander over to say hello.
“My boys were around 10to 12-years-old,” Collinsworth recalled. “Both of them played football in the local league. So John sat down with them and the first thing he asked them, ‘What kind of defense are you playing?’ They told him they were playing a 4-4. ‘A 4-4? I know exactly how to beat that!’ Then he starts with the salt shakers and the knives and forks, doing his whole thing.
“I’m telling you, an hour later, John had not walked around to anybody else. I don’t even know if he’d ever even eaten, but he’s still with these utensils on the table drawing up plays and talking ball with the two boys.
“When he finally got finished, he jumped up and came over and gave Holly a hug and shook my hand and goes, ‘This was a great party. Great party! One of my favorites of all time. I’ve got to go now, but it was a great party.’ And that was all he did. It was fantastic.”
MEALS ON WHEELS
Madden famously avoided flying and instead traveled from game to game in his fully outfitted bus, the Madden Cruiser. There were five of those over the years, and the family still has Cruisers Nos. 4 and 5.
On the open highway is where a lot of the memories were made. Former USC and Rams coach John Robinson, best friends with Madden since they were kids growing up in San Francisco, made a lot of those road trips and recalls his buddy wasn’t always the best judge of restaurants.
“I once went from New York to New Orleans with him, and we stopped four or five times on the way down,” Robinson said. “He picked the places to eat and each one was worse than the last. We were all complaining: ‘John, let somebody else pick the places.’ He’d say, ‘No, I’m the picker.’ If the place looked bad, he’d pick it.”
He might have made hundreds of millions with all his endeavors, but Madden was a man of the people. He was a creature of habit, too. When he was coaching the Oakland Raiders, he used to bring his two sons to Saturday walk-through practices. Every time, he’d stop at Denny’s for corned beef hash and two poached eggs, and they always stopped at Fosters Freeze on the way home for burgers and banana shakes.
It wasn’t all about greasy spoons. Madden knew good food, too. Coupled with the peculiar eating habits of Michaels — who won’t let a vegetable as much as touch his plate — that made for some good comedy.
“We were in Green Bay, and I love cheese and broth and croutons, but I hate onions,” Michaels said. “French onion soup was the delicacy of choice at this restaurant and I said to the server, ‘Is there any chance I could get the French onion soup without the onions?’ She said they could do that, and John thought that was hysterical. He thought it was the most amazing order ever fulfilled. John and I would talk about that at least once a year. He’d ask, ‘Had any French onion soup without the onions lately?’ ”