The NFL is the league of stars and it never fails to honor those who deserve it. As Thanksgiving is here, the NFL is all set to honor John Madden. The league has a lot planned as a tribute to the former NFL commentator, Madden. Now, reports suggest that there will be a special coin for the toss during the game on Thanksgiving.
ESPN‘s reporter Adam Schefter took to X to share the picture of the special coin for Thanksgiving. As usual, the coin has two sides, but the images on it hold a lot of significance. According to Schefter, the head side will feature the great John Madden. The tail side, on the other hand, will feature a six-legged turducken.
For the coin tosses of today’s Thanksgiving games, a silhouette of John Madden will be “Heads” and a six-legged turducken on the reverse side will be “Tails.” pic.twitter.com/E3esWvrE3K
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 23, 2023
It’s worth noting that John Madden called 20 football matches throughout his career. The former commentator used to hand out a turkey leg to the star players of the games. He began this tradition in 1989 and Philadelphia Eagles’ Reggie White was the first one to receive it. After that, a Texas barbecue owner came up with an artificial 6-legged turkey, which later evolved as a turducken.
“There’s no place that I would rather be today on Thanksgiving than right here, right now, at a football game… There are just certain things that go together: the turkey, the family, the tradition, football. … And we have it all today,” Madden once said in 1997 during an NFL game.
To honor the Minnesota-born coach, the NFL has also introduced jersey patches featuring Madden for the players. Along with that, special ‘John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration’ stencils will also be there on the sidelines. Though Madden is not in this world anymore, the league has made sure to give a heart-touching tribute to him.
John Madden had a successful coaching career in the NFL
John Madden undoubtedly established himself as one of the greatest NFL commentators. However, this was not the only reason why he was connected to the league. That’s because he stayed in the NFL as a player as well as a successful coach. In fact, Madden had quite an exceptional career as a coach in the league.
Born in April 1936, Madden joined the NFL in 1958 with the Philadelphia Eagles. He was the team’s 244th pick in the 21st round of the NFL draft that year. Madden was a seasoned offensive tackle, but couldn’t play even a single game in the league. He suffered from a knee injury in 1959 which ended his NFL career before it could even begin.
In 1960, John Madden began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Allan Hancock College. He then became the head coach there in 1962 before becoming the linebackers coach for the Raiders in 1967. After two years, the Oregon Ducks star became the head coach for the Raiders in 1969.
With the Raiders, John Madden won the only Super Bowl of his career in 1976. His team won the game by 32-14 against the Minnesota Vikings. Madden had an outstanding 103-32 regular season record during his coaching career. His postseason record was an amazing 9-7, taking his overall record to a brilliant 112-39.
John Madden left the world in December 2021. However, he earned a lot of fame both as a commentator and a coach. It’s because of that reputation that the NFL has decided to honor him this Thanksgiving.