BAM!: John Madden, the NFL Explosion, and the Video Game that Changed Sports

How John Madden—never the winningest coach, the most polished broadcaster, or the loudest executive in the room—became the NFL’s most influential figure, fueling the league’s rise from the broadcast booth to Madison Avenue to video games, while quietly grappling with football’s human cost, a reckoning born the day opposing player Darryl Stingley was paralyzed on his watch

John Madden retired abruptly from coaching in 1979, at forty-two years old—five months after receiver Darryl Stingley’s p...