I watched the news today regarding the passing of Bill Walsh and couldn’t help but feel that if this was John Madden every video game website on the face of earth would be talking about it.

However Bill Walsh, a member of the hall of fame, three time Superbowl champion, and one of the greatest coaches of all time, loses his fight with leukemia at the age of 75 today and I could not find any mention of him on IGN, 1up, or Gamespot. Was his mid 90’s video game not “hip” enough?

Bill Walsh College Football ‘95, published by EA Sports in 1994, was the first officially licensed game to deal with football on the college level, and it paved the way for what is now the company’s current NCAA Football franchise. Call me what you will, but my gut tells me that if this was John Madden things would have been handled much differently in the videogame world.

“This is just a tremendous loss for all of us, especially to the Bay Area because of what he meant to the 49ers … Outside of my dad he was probably the most influential person in my life. I am going to miss him.” - 49ers’ Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana.

“The essence of Bill Walsh was that he was an extraordinary teacher,” - NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

“He knew me well before I knew myself and knew what I could accomplish well before I knew that I could accomplish it,” - 49ers’ Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young.

“I came to San Francisco, and I found another father, Bill Walsh … He was always there for me, when I was dropping balls, doing everything, when the media were trying to crucify him, ‘Why did you go draft this small college player out of Mississippi Valley State?’ He hung in there with me.” - Jerry Rice

The world is left with one less father, one less teacher, and one less innovator today. He should be remembered and respected by all of us … including the gaming community.

So when you grab your controller, drop back with your QB and throw a quick pass to your running back for a gain of five, remember that it was Bill Walsh who first used the short passing game as an alternative to the running game. And the next time you call out your buddy for not being able to defend your high flying west coast offense, all I ask is that you quietly thank the man who invented it.

Tags: Bill-Walsh

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5 Comments »

1. SFDaddy on July 31, 2007 1:04 am

   Rest in piece Bill, you will be missed.

2. LegendFoSho on July 31, 2007 1:14 am

   I felt a tear in my eye reading those quotes man, no joke. My dad loved the 49ers and to this day they are still my favorite team. I can still remember playing Bill Walsh Football when I was a kid.

3. mitchell on July 31, 2007 3:24 am

   Football in videogames sucks, is boring, and is for pussy’s who can’tplay the game themselves.
   And speaking of pussy’s, Rugby kicks the shit outa pad wearing pussys… im embarrased for you, and in Rugby you have to be soo fit! you dont get a break every 10 seconds and still walk around like a fatass

4. Stuart on July 31, 2007 3:58 am

   *sigh* Unfortunately there’ll always be idiots like the guy above (Mitchell, 3:24am). A great loss for the game of American Football, but I disagree that if Madden died it’d be all over gaming sites. Yes, the game has his name, as do the Tony Hawk games, but how often do you see articles on the latest things that each man has done? Not very often? I’d say not ever, frankly. Gaming sites are concerned with the games, and I’d be surprised to see any gaming site cover the death of anyone involved in a computer game.

5. The Mad Gamer on September 20, 2007 12:27 am

   Stuart,

   So are you saying that if Cliffy B, the creator of Gears of War died that you would be surprised if Gamespot or IGN reported it as news?

   Mad-

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