Growing Up Madden
Last night, I heard the news that Former Raiders Hall of Fame Coach John Madden past away at 85.
I grew up in Hayward, Ca (where I still live) a mere 14 miles away from the Oakland Coliseum.
I got interested and started to learn about the game of football when I was six. It was the 1975 season and the Oakland Raiders were at their zenith and their coach was John Madden.
Madden was the perfect coach at the perfect time for the Raiders.
The East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area (where Oakland and Hayward are) were always looked down by the people across the bay in San Francisco and on the Peninsula.
The East Bay was considered a little tough, a little raunchy and was filled with great working-class people who worked hard and partied hard.
We need to remember the times. A lot of the sixties happened in Berkeley, which is the town over from Oakland. Oakland itself had been the scene of some of the largest anti-Vietnam protests with events like Stop the Draft Week and protests (and riots) aimed at MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) in Downtown Oakland which would process applicants (or during the 60’s draftees) for military service.
The Black Panthers started and flourished in Oakland during this time, so did the Hells Angels who had been founded earlier but had a headquarters in Oakland.
The sports scene for a young kid growing up in the 70’s was amazing in Oakland.
The Oakland A’s of the 70’s won five straight AL West titles, three straight World Series Championships and fought among themselves all the way. They were considered mavericks with all their facial hair, colorful uniforms and their maverick owner Charlie Finley
The Golden St. Warriors of the time were owned by a loveable rouge named Franklin Mieuli with his beard and deerstalker cap and his preferred method of transportation was a motorcycle. They were the NBA Champions in 1975. Mieuli played a major role in breaking down racial barriers in the NBA.
But at the center of this little universe were the Oakland Raiders, coached by Madden.
In 1969, he became (at the time) the youngest coach in the history of NFL at age 32.
Madden was totally different than most coaches in the NFL at that time. Besides being young, he was also a child of the Bay Area. He grew up in Daly City and understood the area.
He was also a maverick with his team rules. Most coaches at that time had rules about hair length, facial hair, wearing ties on the road, not sitting on helmets during practice, etc. Madden only had three rules for his team:
- Be on time
- Pay Attention
- Play like hell when I tell you
The Raiders were the true mavericks of the sports world of the era. From owner Al Davis, to Madden, to all the interesting and legendary players, to team broadcaster Bill King. The whole organization were considered renegades.
Here is the catch, The Raiders were ahead of the curve as the world was changing in the 70’s. The establishment was trying to maintain the status quo of the 50’s as the rest of the country was going through this radical change. The Raiders may have been renegades to the rest of the world but here in the East Bay they were normal.
Madden was part of the change when he was coaching.
Madden was a looper at the famed Olympic Club in San Francisco as a kid. A part of him always stayed as a caddy and in the caddy shack. He never lost his working class roots and his team (even though they were stacked with Hall of Famers) was a hard working one.
But the thing about Madden is that he was extremely intelligent and curious about life and people. People don’t know this but Madden had his California Teaching Credential and had a masters degree in education and was a few credits shy of his PhD in Education.
He always kept this curiosity throughout life and was always learning about the world and the people of the world.
He coached ten years in the NFL and then retired. Madden said he was never going to coach again when he left the Raiders in 1979. He was only 42 when he retired. A lot of coaches say that but the thrill of the arena brings them back like a junkie to heroin. Madden kept his word and stayed away.
He found broadcasting and became the hardest worker in the industry. He became the best football analyst in the history of the sport. He cleaned up his Raider vocabulary and phrases and used the newer versions on TV.
He settled in East Bay suburb of Pleasanton and bought most of its downtown.
He got involved with EA Sports and created one of the world’s greatest football games-Madden.
Looking back on it, I feel extremely lucky that I grew up in that era here in the East Bay. Being able to watch Madden as a coach, then develop as and dominate broadcasting, then kick ass with his video game (even though I don’t play).
I know many kids I grew up from that era have used him as measuring stick. To be like him- organic, authentic and comfortable in your skin.
I feel like a lost a part of my childhood with his passing but I guess the way to honor him and his legacy, I will try to strive to be organic, authentic and comfortable with who I am.