NFL Hall of Fame coach and broadcasting icon John Madden has died. He was 85.

The NFL said Madden died unexpectedly.

“Nobody loved football more than Coach,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said.

“He was football. He was an incredible sounding board to me and so many others.

“There will never be another John Madden, and we will forever be indebted to him for all he did to make football and the NFL what it is today.”

Madden won Super Bowl XI with the then-Oakland Raiders when they rolled through the 1976 regular season with a 13-1 record. 

The team won three postseason games, including a convincing 32-14 victory over the Minnesota Vikings in the Super Bowl.

Madden went 103-32-7 in 10 seasons as Raiders coach from 1969-78.

He became a television analyst the following season and won 16 Emmy awards during a 30-year career.

Madden had stints at CBS (1979-93), Fox (1994-2001), ABC (2002-05) and NBC (2006-08).

He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006.

Madden also was heavily involved in the Madden football video games, published by EA Sports since 1988.

AAP

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