Not the Guy He Knew

Wonderful interview piece on America’s favorite gridiron strategist, hardware huckster and autumn-weekend-afternoon companion, John Madden, and his move to Fox (“Gridiron John,” by Sean Mitchell, Sept. 4). How’d you get it?

Thirty-five years ago, Madden was a 1959 graduate student and freshman football coach at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. New San Diego State Coach Ted Tollner was Madden’s quarterback that year. I was a freshman sportswriter on the school paper, El Mustang, and was lucky to get six words out of Madden in many a 30-minute interview.

The first few times I saw Madden on TV I could hardly believe it was the same person. Someone’s elocution academy is missing out on a helluva testimonial.

Arthur R. Vinsel

San Pedro