Andy Reid's closing remarks at John Madden's Celebration of Life: "John's in heaven now… Constantly talking to the greats of all sports, telling them why football is the greatest sport of all. God has asked him to be careful flailing those big arms of his." @KCTV5 pic.twitter.com/8wvRnk6Zy7
— Jared Koller (@JaredKCTV5) February 15, 2022
Kansas City Chiefs HC Andy Reid had a chance to memorialize the late John Madden on Monday evening.
Reid was one of eight speakers at Madden’s celebration of life at the Oakland Coliseum, where he delivered an emotional speech on his good friend. He spoke on the lessons he learned from Madden, the privilege it was to work alongside him to better the league and told some funny stories about him and the great coach and broadcaster. Those stories included their love of ‘Diners Drive-Ins and Dives’ and a story about Brett Favre playing a prank on Madden.
Reid kicked things off by taking a knock at a crowd mostly comprised of Raiders Nation.
“I glad I’m not at spitting distance,” Reid said with a crowd full of Raiders fans. “It’s good to be in the black hole.”
Then, Reid continued to deliver his speech. You can watch a few select clips shared by KCTV5’s Jared Koller at the top of the page, or you can read the speech in its entirety down below:
“Listen, I first met coach (John) Madden about 30-plus years ago my first year in Green Bay. He took me in like one of his own. He said, ‘You played offensive line?’ I said, ‘I did.’ He said, ‘You’re in.’ I was in the club, officially. Coach taught me to appreciate every day, every game, every play of every game. He taught me not to back off (from) what I knew would be the best for the National Football League. He taught me that coaches weren’t the hamburger flippers of the National Football League — that we had a voice and if properly presented people would listen — Roger Goodell and the owners. Commissioner Goodell asked Coach (Madden) to put together a committee of present-day coaches that could review the rules and regulations of the National Football League. I got a call from Coach Madden to be on that committee and I was proud of it as were the other coaches who were also on the committee. I got to work hand in hand with a great coach, John Madden, and it was an honor. His relentless trust in his own common sense, suggestions to change the game for its betterment, probably drove commissioner Goodell crazy. But it was awesome to watch his beautiful mind formulate each want.
He taught me to never lose my childish love for life. I remember a time we played the 49ers and Coach (Madden) met with me down in San Francisco. I called him when I got there, it was a two-day trip. I’m sitting on the 30th floor and I call Coach (Madden) on my cell phone on Saturday before a walkthrough. As I’m talking to him, I look down, 30 floors above and I see this little blue hat. And there’s a man sitting down in an open cafe in the middle of downtown San Francisco and he’s talking to everybody that walks by. I keep hearing on my cell phone, ‘How are you doing?’ I go, ‘Coach are you in an open cafe down below me, are you wearing a blue hat? He goes, ‘Yes.’ I go, ‘I could spit on your head right now.’ I’m 30 stories up and I said, ‘You know what I’m going to do, I’m going to call you when I get back from the walkthrough.’ He said his apartment was right across the street, so I came back and I called him in his apartment. Don’t forget the childish part. I asked where is his apartment, he says I’m kitty-corner. I said I’m standing in the window in the corner, so all of a sudden I see the curtains moving out of the way and the couch moves out of the way and there’s coach. I count the floors, I’m on the 18th floor and I told coach, ‘I’m about 18 floors up.’ So I told coach to take a peek and I’m doing this *flails arms wildly* and the windows are tinted. And then we see each other and it’s like two little fat kids in a candy store. It was a beautiful thing.
Also, I look forward to Friday nights, which is ‘Diner’s Drive-Ins and Dives.’ Coach (Madden) and I like to eat, which I think is obvious. We would grade Guy Fieri on the meals that he was checking out. We’d say, ‘Does Guy like it or doesn’t like it? Is this a good meal or bad meal? If it was a good meal, we’d have that bad boy. We’d proceed — him in Northern California and me in Kansas City — we’d proceed to go get the Burrito or the hotdog or if the hamburger was on — we’d have to have one that night. Thank you, Guy Fieri.
(Coach Madden) taught me that a sense of humor goes a long way, especially with players and really with people in general. . . Coach Madden had an issue, if he smelled somebody’s gas and Brett Favre had a lot of gas. But on this day, during the production meeting, we’re on the road and Brett Favre had a plan. Brett was a big prankster as Coach Madden was. So Brett got his hands on a little bottle of morning breeze. It was sulfur and it smelled like natural gas — like Brett’s natural gas. So during their production meeting, Brett had this plan, he was going to get the coach to gag. So he took it during the production meeting, he sprinkled this morning breeze on the coach’s feet and I sat outside the door. And here comes Coach Madden through this thing like he used to make his guys drive the 7-man sled. He was gagging all the way out, cherry red and he looked at me and he goes, this quarterback of yours is unbelievable I love this guy.
Coach loved being one of the guys. Coach loved the common human. Most of all he loves his beautiful wife, Virginia, the tough farm girl. He loved his boys and he loved his grandkids. Coach Madden loved life and life loved him back. Coach was able to turn everything into gold and we got to ride on those big gold broad shoulders of his.
John Madden is in heaven now. It’s 100 times bigger than the Hall of Fame. The busts are now alive. He’s constantly talking to the greats of all sports and telling them why football is the greatest sport of all. God has asked him to be careful flailing those big arms of his. John, we have a packed house out here, look over there. Pete Rozelle is still hiding from Al Davis. The past officials are still hiding behind Pete Rozelle. The sideline polar bear has arrived! He’s here and he’s ranting, ‘Turducken’s For Everybody!” We will make heaven an even better place than it already is. Pat Summerall and John Madden are together again. The father, the son and the holy ghost bow to the echo of this holy reunion. Their play-by-play has brought a peaceful excitement to the heavens. All is well. We love you, coach.”
