Madden Memories
John Madden touched millions with his stories, observations, and personality. Here are a few “Madden Memories”. Send me yours.
My commute varied from morning to morning. I was always really pleased when the timing worked out so that I could listen to John Madden. I'm not a sports person, but I was warmed and entertained by his voice and his stories.. Thanks for hanging in there with Madden and providing the morning boost I and so many other needed.
—Debbie Ward
At about the 9th or 10th KCBS/Madden BBQ, he kind of recognized me. He didn’t know my name but I think he knew I worked at the station. He had a fungo bat in his hands and yelled in my direction, “Hey Serra. Yeah you…Serra!” He had remembered from conversations at previous BBQ’s that my dad played football with Serra High alum John Robinson (Coach Madden’s boyhood buddy). He looked at me and said, “Come with me.” We walked directly to his private office. We sat down. He twirled the fungo. He asked about my father. He told me stories about his own alma mater, Jefferson High, and then he was told it was time for him to welcome the sponsors and start lunch. He goes, “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” We hung there for about another ten minutes. He asked me about my family and my job, we discussed his favorite restaurants in Nebraska and New Mexico, and then we got up to go to the lunch. Then in a moment I’ll never forget he walked towards me, put his hand on my shoulder and said, ”Tim, we’re going to go in there and every one of the sponsors is going to kiss my ass. They’re gonna give me their business cards. Gonna slap me on the back, telling me to call them for a deal on a car. They’re gonna tell me how great I am, how wonderful I am. Just a lot of phony B.S. Do you know who I really am, Tim? I’m just a fat guy from Daly City!”
—Tim Griffin, longtime KCBS Radio account executive
We were lucky enough to win a raffle to one of the KCBS Madden Barbecues. My wife
has a childhood friend from Long Beach whose son, John, died of melanoma at age 40. She sent a picture of Johnny Mac up to us so he, too, could go to the BBQ, as it were. He would have loved being in Pleasanton.
So we luckily get a one-on-one with Coach. My wife whips out the picture and gives him the story. John flags down an assistant and asks him to go find the Bishop of Oakland, who was also attending. The Bishop shows up, we give him the story, he prays for Johnny Mac, blesses the photo, and we then took a picture of Johnny Mac’s photo stuck under the windshield wiper of the Madden Cruiser. Coach used to have photos taken of all of the BBQ attendees in groups of 20 to 40. Instead, he pulled us aside and had a picture taken
with just him and us. My wife is holding Johnny Mac’s photo, if you look closely. We considered that a great honor.—Jim Gillivan
In the late 1960's, I was attending St. Joseph High School in Alameda. I was walking to class one Monday and saw John Madden walking into church for the 8 o'clock Mass. We exchanged greetings but I didn't say anything more because I was too scared. I saw him off and on until I graduated in 1971. I found out years later that he always went to church in the morning whenever the Oakland Raiders played at home on Monday Night Football.
—Bob Butler
My mother’s maiden name is Madden. My father is an Alameda native, and we spent time together watching Raiders football when I was young. I was always paying particular
to Coach Madden due to his name. Playing youth sports, we had some meet and greet events with Raider players.
John Madden’s KCBS mornings made a big impact during my wife’s commute. She listened every day and came to appreciate the humor, energy, and life experience banter.
As such, she purchased Madden’s books and appreciated aspects of sports unknown to her, i.e. football.
I am grateful to John Madden for his passion for sharing, love of life, and abilities to communicate with the common man. Through it all he has helped my spousal relationship and given us topics to share and enjoy.
Thank you, John Madden, for making life better.—Jeff Carlen
I walked into Vic’s Diner in Pleasanton one afternoon and there sat John Madden with a friend. It was unreal to see him in person.
We sat and had our food and it wasn’t until we were on the way out that I got the courage to say “hello”. He was very nice and I remember asking a question about the upcoming Giants season. Sure, I stumbled a bit, being nervous, but he gave his opinion and we left.
It was just so cool to meet him in person and I was happy to have had the chance to run into him.—Ken Honeycutt
One random weekday, my friend Steve Bitker asked if I felt like watching football on the upcoming Sunday with him. I said sure, and he said it will be fun; we are going to The Coach's business office to watch the game. You don't have to be a football fan or even be from the Bay Area to respect and admire The Coach, and I was in disbelief I would actually get to meet John Madden. The Coach's office had some comfortable chairs situated beside one another in a row, facing the wall of several large screen TV's. The seat next to The Coach was way too intimidating for a fan like me, but lots of family and friends took their turn catching up with this great man. Then Steve Bitker told me to man-up and sit in that seat. The Coach greeted me, making me feel completely at ease. What was most memorable wasn't how amazed I was that he had all the time in the world to brilliantly answer each and every question I had, rather it was how interested he was in me, in my business, how quickly he picked up on details that most would never bother to care about, as if I were someone of importance...... It was at that time that I realized why I always felt like The Coach was a friend of mine, with his humility and personal anecdotes, whether watching him on TV or listening to him on KCBS. You just never knew what he was going to talk about, but it was always fun and interesting.
—Steve Burman, Partner & Winemaker, 3 Steves Winery (Retired)