Upon learning of the unexpected passing of NFL legend John Madden on Tuesday, the world of sports immediately became inundated with heartfelt tributes and emotional memories of the Hall of Fame coach and broadcaster.
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But expressing the deepest and most passionate thoughts about a loved one is difficult to do in a 280-character tweet, and Peter King expanded on his brilliant synopsis of Madden's life and legacy — "...he might be the most influential person in football history" — in an interview with Audacy Bay Area affiliate 95.7 The Game.
"Well, John Madden to me is the most unique person in NFL history, and he never played," King explained on "Damon & Ratto," with Sean Salisbury filling in. "He's unique because he made the Hall of Fame for 10 years of coaching with the Raiders, and there's two other things that history will remember him far more kindly for.
"One is that he is either one of the, or the greatest analyst in football history. He got on television and he explained what football is, what it was like, why teams won, why they lost. And he did it, as my wife told me when we were talking about the Madden documentary the other day, he made women love football and I never thought of it that way. She said, I just like listening to him. He was just a really fun human being.
"And then finally, he got millions of people, mostly young people, into pro football because they love the 'Madden' game... Roger Goodell referred to him as the NFL's Elvis Presley, the most famous guy that you've ever seen and such a legendary guy."
King also discussed how Madden's work on broadcasts led to our current era of great color commentators.
"...Cris Collinsworth grew up listening, watching John Madden, and that's how they felt," King said. "That's how they knew that they were going to do the job, to be human. How do you think Tony Romo has basically taken the broadcast world by storm?
"...Before Madden, everybody was just basically an analyst explaining football on television, that's what they did. Madden was the guy sitting next you at the bar. He changed it totally."
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