John Madden’s kindness toward Darryl Stingley after the Patriots receiver was paralyzed in an August 1978 preseason game against Madden’s Raiders has been well-known for at least 40 years. A 1983 Sports Illustrated profile of Madden revealed, among other details of his generosity, that he visited Stingley daily in the Bay Area hospital where he remained for weeks after suffering the injury.
In his autobiography, Stingley said simply of Madden, “I love that man.”
But few knew the depths of the friendship, which sustained until Stingley’s death in April 2007 and extends across the Madden and Stingley family trees. In a wonderful piece that will air at halftime of the Thanksgiving night matchup between the Seahawks and 49ers on NBC and Peacock, the bond is explored.
The story is told through interviews with Madden’s widow, Virginia, and his son, Mike, as well as Tina Stingley (Darryl’s widow), Derek Stingley Sr. (his son), and Derek Stingley Jr., a Houston Texans cornerback. The segment includes Derek Sr.’s visit to California last month to meet Virginia and Mike for the first time.
“He became like family, because of him always being there,” said Derek Sr. “There were times when no one was there, but John Madden showed up.”
Fred Gaudelli, the head of NBC’s NFL coverage, produced the piece along with David Picker and Rob Hyland. Gaudelli, who was Madden’s producer on “Monday Night Football,” said his friend kept the details of his connection to the Stingleys private.
“All the years I worked with Madden and then when we were friends afterwards, he never really wanted to talk about it,” said Gaudelli. “I tried to raise it a couple of times, but he didn’t want to talk about it. All he would do was express his frustration that the Patriots just left [Stingley] there [in the hospital].”
When Madden — whom the NFL began honoring during Thanksgiving week last year — died in December 2021, Mike’s eulogy mentioned the Stingleys.
“He’s talking about the relationship with the Stingley family and how the Stingleys spent some time at the house when they were kids, and I was like, ‘Wow, I’ve never heard that,’ " said Gaudelli.
Gaudelli called his agent, Sandy Montag, who had also represented Madden, and asked if the family might be willing to talk about it. Montag was initially skeptical, noting that John never really wanted to, but Montag reached out, and they were open to it.
“Mike had told him, ‘Everybody knows about my dad’s football exploits, broadcasting, but this is a side they don’t know about him,’ ” said Gaudelli.
Madden would make gestures both small and large through the years to be there for the Stingley family. When he was in Stingley’s hometown of Chicago for a broadcast, he would make sure to invite him to a game. Sometimes, he would just swing by to drop off the “Madden” NFL video game for the Stingley kids.
In the feature airing Thursday, Tina Stingley talks about visiting the Maddens in California years ago.
“He kept that relationship going, through all those years,” said Gaudelli. “John never forgot Darryl and his family. He was a truly caring guy.”
Chad Finn can be reached at chad.finn@globe.com.