NEW YORK (CNN) -- Legendary football coach and broadcaster John Madden is retiring, he announced Thursday.

John Madden appears at the TV Critics Association Press Tour in Beverly Hills, California, in 2008.

"It's been such a great ride ... the NFL has been my life for more than 40 years, it has been my passion -- it still is," he said in a statement released by NBC Sports.

Madden, 73, was a Hall of Fame coach for the Oakland Raiders, but is best known to millions as an ebullient football commentator.

He won 16 Emmy awards for outstanding sports analyst/personality, NBC said.

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