For John Madden's contributions on the football field as a coach, and those off of it as a pioneering TV broadcaster and namesake to a landmark video game series, longtime NFL broadcaster Al Michaels calls his former partner "as important as anyone" in the league's history.
Michaels called games alongside Madden for "Monday Night Football" on ABC for four years, and for three more as part of NBC's "Sunday Night Football" before Madden retired in 2009. Madden, who died Tuesday at the age of 85, was the same man in the booth as he was outside of it, Michaels told KCBS Radio’s Liz Saint John in a Wednesday interview.
Because of Madden's genuine nature, it was no wonder he became an icon.
"He was a great listener, as well as a man you wanted to hear talk," Michaels said of Madden, a KCBS Radio contributor from 1997-2018. "And you wanted to listen to John, but John enjoyed listening to people. He was probably a better listener than he was a talker, and so as a consequence, John was able to converse about almost anything."
Madden stopped flying in 1979, fearing it due to claustrophobia. For 30 years, he traveled to games in a decked-out bus known as the "Madden Cruiser." Michaels said Madden struck up countless conversations with strangers in small towns on drives across the country, bringing a natural curiosity to each.
Longtime San Francisco Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow experienced this firsthand.
A fellow Cal Poly alumnus, Krukow said he and Madden first crossed paths at fundraisers they each hosted for the school. Madden would pepper Krukow, an MLB pitcher for 14 seasons, with questions about catchers.
But Madden asked Krukow a lot about himself over the years, too, showing even more interest in the pitcher-turned-broadcaster’s path.
"He knew my world," Krukow recalled to Saint John. "He knew about my career. He knew about my career as a broadcaster and was so affable with me, and really with everybody that he met. He just had that way with people. I think I'm one of those that are lucky enough to have been able to call him my friend, but I think we all felt that way."
Krukow, an esteemed color commentator himself, said analysts across sports “all use (Madden’s) style, to some degree,” in an effort to connect with viewers. Madden made football “personable,” letting you see the sport “through his eyes,” Krukow said.
By treating every on-air conversation as he would a personal one, Michaels said Madden “made everyone around him better.”
"He was an unbelievably curious man," Michaels said. "And one of the great things for me, as a partner, was that if we didn't rehearse something, I could go anywhere with him, depending upon where the game was and what we wanted to talk about, and know that he would be ready to go and ready to respond and ready to further the conversation and the dialogue. So as a partner, he's as good as it got."
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