June 1, 1988: A video game dynasty

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - John Madden never played in the NFL, a knee injury ending his career before it could even begin. He spent nine years coaching at various levels in college football before being hired by the Oakland Raiders at age 32. His NFL head coaching career only lasted 10 seasons, but he had a winning record in all of them, including winning the Super Bowl after the 1976 season.

It's not the playing or the coaching that John Madden will end up being remembered for. It's also possible that he won't be remembered for his broadcasting, though he became arguably America's most famous color analyst in his 30 years behind the microphone.

What will likely stand as Madden's legacy long after his days in the broadcast booth are forgotten will be the John Madden Football series of video games. The first version of the series was released on June 1, 1988, available on the Apple II and the Commodore 64.

John Madden at first agreed to lend his name to the game because he thought it would make for a good teaching tool. When the original designers said there would be 7-man teams, Madden threatened to pull his sponsorship of it, saying he wouldn't support a game that wasn't realistic.

And that might have been the key to its lasting success. There had been football video games before the Madden series, but the Madden series has stood the test of time for its realistic game play and attention to detail. The game has been re-released and updated every year since 1988 and is now far and away the most popular sports video game in America (partially due to a exclusivity deal with the NFL that states it is the only series that can use real NFL teams).

The Madden Universe has grown far beyond what even the game's original designers could have imagined. Now, there are annual Madden tournaments between both fans and NFL players. The question of which player will be on the cover of that year's game has become a regular news event and the release date of the newest version of the game has become an annual holiday among sports fans. All this has helped to make a man who never played a snap in the NFL one of the most recognizable football players of all time.