Tuesday was a very sad day for sports fans, especially fans of football and the National Football League. John Madden passed away at the age of 85 years old. Madden is a legend of the game for his coaching, broadcasting, and video game that so many people around the world still play to this day. A few Chicago White Sox legends shared their thoughts on the matter via Twitter.
Frank Thomas and Tony La Russa each shared their condolences with some nice words in Tweets a little bit after the news started to circle. It was great to see because they are each leaders in the Chicago sports community because of their respective careers.
Madden was clearly a legendary figure that impacted the NFL (and sports) like few others before or after him. His loss is something that is being felt around the world and the Tweets of these legends are just a few of many.
True sadness! Just exchanged fun texts with him on Dec 21. Typical John Madden stuff, huge coaching legend, mentor, intelligent with savvy, sense and humor. One of a great kind. His documentary is a keeper. He loved his dogs. Join with all others our sincere regrets to his family
— Tony La Russa (@TonyLaRussa) December 29, 2021
R.I.P. John Madden!One of my Favorite Broadcasters Ever. He Made the NFL Cool and Must See TV! Boom and the Bang True Legend!! #AwesomeCoachandBroadcaster
— Frank Thomas (@TheBigHurt_35) December 29, 2021
Outside of his contributions to the football world, it seems like John Madden was known to be just an extremely nice guy. Sometimes being a Hall of Fame human being is just as important as being a Hall of Famer in a specific field. John Madden was both.
John Madden’s impact was felt around the entire sporting world for a long time.
The White Sox clearly has some classy individuals all over the place but Frank Thomas and Tony La Russa really did a nice thing here. The family of John Madden would truly appreciate reading nice words like this from two legends of another sport.
Seeing someone like John Madden go is truly sad. Most sports fans above the age of 20 know how impactful he was and how entertaining he was as a broadcaster. As Frank Thomas pointed out, he made the NFL cool and must-see TV before it became what it is today. Now, it is the most popular sport in the country and Madden gets a lot of credit for that. May he rest in peace.