Madden and Sumerall: How They Revolutionized NFL Broadcasting

Madden & Summerall tells the inside story of how two unlikely partners became the greatest broadcast duo in NFL history.

This is the story of how John Madden and Pat Summerall got to CBS and, although very different, how they became the greatest broadcast team of all time. It is told by Rich Podolsky, who worked alongside them both at CBS.

Separately, they were great. Together, they were the greatest ever. Madden & Summerall is about two stalwarts of the game, but their story is not without controversy. Summerall was a five-sport star who became a broadcaster by accident. Uncharacteristically, he was a morning drive-time radio host before he found his path on TV. Madden was a bigger-than-life Super Bowl-winning coach, and he easily could have been a stand-up comedian.

We all remember the great story-telling John Madden, who won sixteen Emmy Awards, but we don’t remember how much he struggled his first two years on the air to find his way. In fact, he was almost fired after his first season. It wasn’t until he was paired with Summerall that it all clicked. They were so different, yet so perfect together--like peanut butter meeting jelly for the first time.

The book follows the intimate stories of their lives from childhood to death: before and during their great twenty-one-year partnership. Never-before-told insider stories (some fun, some scathing) from friends, family members, and dozens of ex-colleagues pepper these chapters.

Rich Podolsky, an established writer and reporter since the 1970s, has been a staff writer for CBS and has written for ESPN, the Philadelphia Daily News, the Palm Beach Post, the Wilmington News Journal, College & Pro Football Newsweekly, and TV Guide. He is also the recipient of the prestigious Pennsylvania Newspaper Publishers’ Keystone Award for writing excellence. He is the author of the highly acclaimed You Are Looking Live: How The NFL Today Revolutionized Sports Broadcasting, named by Book Authority as the number one sports broadcasting book of all time. He lives in New York City.