America knows John Madden as a Super Bowl-winning football coach, an advertising pitchman extraordinaire, the voice and face of the NFL for many years, and the guy whose name is on the cover of the nation’s best-selling sports video game.
The Bay Area knows him as “Coach”, a morning radio constant for over thirty years. Madden was first heard as a daily sidekick to “Emperor” Gene Nelson (BARHOF 2006) on KYA, beginning in 1982.
Their memorable conversations were ostensibly sports-related but in reality, covered whatever sprung from Madden’s agile mind.
When Nelson retired in 1994, Madden moved over to KNBR and joined Frank Dill (BARHOF 2006) for more of the same, until Dill’s retirement in 1997.
From 1997 to 2000, Madden was introduced each weekday morning on KCBS by yet another 2006 BARHOF inductee, Al Hart. After Hart’s retirement, the honor of bringing “Coach”onto the broadcast each morning fell to Stan Bunger (BARHOF 2010), who would write about Madden’s radio years in a 2024 book.
Madden’s last KCBS broadcast was on August 17, 2018. He passed away on December 28, 2021, days after celebrating his 50th wedding anniversary with Virginia Madden.