[Ads-l] "Winning is the best deodorant"

[Ben Zimmer]

Looks like Madden gets the credit for this one. Earliest I see on the
databases is this:

---
"Television's Winning Team / CBS' Madden, Summerall Just Keep Getting
Better"
Tom Gilmore, San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 12, 1988, p. E2 [ProQuest]
[Pat Summerall] asked Madden late in the game if he thought there was any
truth to rumors that Bill Walsh might retire. Madden said the rumors may
have had validity earlier in the season, especially after the 49ers
suffered a 9-3 loss to the Los Angeles Raiders. Things have picked up
recently, Madden said. "Winning is a great deodorant. It covers up so many
things."
---

Other sportswriters quoted Madden similarly over the next few days.

--Ben

On Tue, Dec 19, 2023 at 2:11 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> Garson et al.,
>
> Can anyone push this quote (also cited as “Winning is the great
> deodorant”) back before football coach/announcer John Madden or basketball
> point guard/coach Jason Kidd, to each of whom it regularly gets
> attributed?  Or if not, does Madden (who I’m assuming antedated Kidd on
> this) get the credit?
>
> LH
>

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