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Bryan Burwell is an award-winning sports columnist with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The author of two books, including “At The Buzzer! The Greatest Moments in NBA History”, Burwell’s work has also appeared in several sports anthologies, USA Today, the New York Daily News, The Sporting News, and Sports Illustrated. On television, Burwell is a regular contributor to ESPN’s The Sports Reporters and spent 14 years with HBO Sports. In 2007, he was the host and writer of a nationally syndicated TV documentary on the Negro baseball leagues called The Color of Change, which won two 2008 Telly Awards.

Thanks to our friends at IPG, Mr Burwell graciously took quite a bit of time out of his hectic schedule to spend with me in granting Sports Jabber the following exclusive interview to discuss his work, life and new book, “Madden: A Biography“…

SJ Brian: Out of all the iconic sports legends that you could choose from to cover, what made John Madden the most intriguing choice for you?

Burwell: I think it’s because his resume is so unusual. How many guys have been legendary in three separate lives? John Madden was a Hall of Fame coach, a Hall of Fame broadcaster and a giant when it comes to his off the field accomplishments, specifically as a pitchman and with the video game. That’s probably the most popular video game in gaming history. Those are significant accomplishments.

SJ Brian: The part of the book which I most enjoyed was his time spent with Norm Van Brocklin, during the horrific knee injury. Do you believe that without the monumental learning experience which he had from Mr. Van Brocklin, that he would’ve been equally as successful as a coach?

Burwell: Yes, because I found that successful people, like John, recognize opportunity and they do something with the opportunity, which is symptomatic of successful people regardless of their profession. Think about all of the fortunate events in his life, think about all the things that he’s done. he recognized that this was a smart thing to do; he recognized that watching game film with Norm Van Brocklin was a smart thing to do. He realized at that coaching clinic that when John McKay was talking, that McKay wasn’t the guy that he needed to talk to. He needed to talk to the man who designed his offense, that man was Don Coryell. He and Coryell struck up a great friendship in coaching, that led to him getting his first significant college coaching job. That led to him meeting Al Davis. All of the aforementioned events he capitalized on them, which is what lead to him being such a successful coach.

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By Brian Geraghty – Jabberhead, SJ Contributing Author

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