Nov 28, 2024
Fans at Thursday's Packers-Dolphins game got a glimpse of a legendary football vehicle the original Madden Cruiser, which usually resides at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Ohio. The bus famously carried legendary broadcaster and coach John Madden around the country. The NFL honored Madden's legacy and love of Thanksgiving with player patches, on-field painting and a new "Madden Thanksgiving MVP" award A former driver of the bus says Lambeau Field was Madden's favorite stadium The inside features a bedroom, screens to watch film, telephones, a bathroom with a shower, and a kitchen gadgets that were ahead of their time when the Cruiser debuted in 1987 The original bus was replaced multiple times and fully restored once, but the memories remain Video shows the interior of the bus(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)The late, great coach John Madden passed away in late 2021, but his spirit lives on through football, Thanksgiving and this bus. We're showing you inside the Madden Cruiser and introducing you to the man behind the wheel."This is the original Madden Cruiser," JJ Johnson, Madden's former driver, said. "This cruiser is now 38 years old.""Greyhound gave him this bus," Johnson continued. "This was originally a full-seated coach, and Greyhound converted it for him."Famously averse to flying, the legendary broadcaster rode around the nation in this 40-foot bus.It was tricked out with gadgets ahead of its time screens to watch film, phones, and even a kitchen and bathroom.Johnson drove the cruiser for the coach's final six years on the road often side-by-side with the coach."Mrs. Madden hired me, and John stole me. It's a big family," Johnson said. "They've always embraced my family, my kids, my wife. And to this day, Mrs. Madden, she needs a bus? I'm on a plane from Virginia to California get the bus ready, and let's go."Johnson now drives production trucks for NBC's Sunday Night Football and says a game like Thursday would've had Madden written all over it."Thanksgiving at Lambeau? John, he would've ate this up. I mean this it would have been perfect," Johnson said. "His favorite holiday at his favorite stadium. It would have been a great, great time for us all.""Twenty years with Coach," Johnson said. "It was an amazing ride."Now Johnson and the Sunday Night Football crew are off to Buffalo for Sunday's game, and the Madden Cruiser will head back to its permanent home at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
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