NFL honoring John Madden with special coins for Thanksgiving games

There’s no person that’s more synonymous with NFL games on Thanksgiving than legendary broadcaster John Madden. So, it’s only fitting that the league has a number of tributes slated for Madden in this year’s Thanksgiving slate. On Thursday evening, the NFL announced that a coin featuring the iconic broadcaster will be used during the coin tosses during this year’s Thanksgiving games.

Check out the front side and back side below.

The NFL announced that during this year's Thanksgiving games, coin featuring a silhouette of Hall of Famer John Madden will be used during coin tosses.

A silhouette of his face will be “Heads" and a six-legged turducken on the reverse side will be "Tails." pic.twitter.com/qbHIY1g7Zc

— Pro Football Hall of Fame (@ProFootballHOF) November 17, 2023

He passed away unexpectedly at the age of 85 years old in late December of 2021. Madden is one of the more revered figures in NFL history, so it’s not surprising the league has continued to honor his legacy with tributes.

In addition to the coin toss, players jerseys on Thanksgiving will also have patches on them honoring Madden.

More about John Madden

After starting his coaching career as an assistant at Allan Hancock College in 1960, John Madden quickly rose through the ranks and accepted the Oakland Raiders linebackers coach job in 1967. Just two years later, at 32-years old, he became head coach. The team reached five AFC championship games in seven years before breaking through for a Super Bowl win in 1976. After failing to reach the playoffs in 1978, he retired from coaching.

Madden amassed a 112-39-7 record as a head coach, winning more than 73% of the games he coached.

He entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006 and the National Sports Media Association Hall of Fame in 2010. Over the course of his career Madden added 16 Emmy Awards to his Super Bowl trophy.

After becoming one of the most recognizable faces in football over his time with every major network, he also helped launch the NFL’s most popular video game with EA Sports. In 2012, he stated that the game provided’ “a way for people to learn the game (of football) and participate in the game at a pretty sophisticated level.” The Madden title continues to grace the cover of the video game beyond his career and now carries his legacy.

The video game franchise lives on, with more than three decades of yearly editions produced. And on TV, Madden became a football ambassador, teaching viewers at home not only how to better understand the game but to love it, too.

Along with his wife Virginia, John Madden had two sons. Both attended Ivy League schools, with Joe playing football at Brown and Mike playing at Harvard.

On3’s James Fletcher III also contributed to this article.