Who Are John Madden's Children?

Football icon John Madden died unexpectedly on December 28 at 85 years old. Madden was known as a Super Bowl-winning coach for the Oakland Raiders before heading to the booth to become a legendary commentator. Although he was most famous for his career off the field, he was always considered a coach. "He was first and foremost a coach," Pro football Hall of Fame president, Jim Porter, said after Madden's passing, per ESPN. "He was a coach on the field, a coach in the broadcast booth and a coach in life." Madden's impact on the sport was undeniable. "He will forever be synonymous with the game," chairman of ESPN, James Pitaro said. In addition to his accomplishments as a coach and broadcaster, Madden was the name behind a beloved video game franchise.

After a knee injury forced Madden to step away from the game as a player, he went to Cal Poly to receive a Masters in Education. It was during that time Madden met his wife Virginia Fields, per the Los Angeles Times. The couple married in 1959 and had two sons together, and family remained paramount to Madden throughout his life. "We all know him as the Hall of Fame coach of the Oakland Raiders and broadcaster who worked for every major network, but more than anything, he was a devoted husband, father and grandfather," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement.

Both of Madden's sons decided to follow in their father's footsteps — but in different ways. 

After John Madden's video game series became successful he started Goal Line Productions to have his own studio in 1991. His son, Joe Madden, joined him in the venture and was co-owner, per TV Technology. Under Joe's guidance, Goal Line productions grew over the years and the company built a 7,000 square-foot sound stage in the Bay Area, per Hacienda.

Joe's career expanded far beyond just working on the Madden NFL video game brand, as he did work with Goal Line that saw them produce commercials for major brands such as Clorox and Charles Schwab, per LinkedIn. He even executive produced movies such as the Golden Globe and Academy Award-nominated "The Cooler" starring Alec Baldwin.

John's other son, Mike Madden, followed his father in another direction, as he took an interest in the world of sports. Mike spent $1 million restoring Muhammad Ali's legendary Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania training camp in 2017, per The Philadelphia Inquirer. His team went to great lengths to restore the facilities to Ali's era. "There was a couch, for example, that sat in the room where Ali used to get his massages," Mike told the Inquirer. "We scoured Schuylkill County thrift shops looking for a replica." When Mike first told John about his idea to restore the training camp he received full support from his father. "Here's what I want to do and here's where we are going... and he said, 'Well, damn it, somebody's gotta do it,'" Mike recalled telling John, per WFMZ.