Don Meredith, 1938-2010
Los Angeles Times, December 7, 2010 04:00 AM
Don Meredith, an accomplished Dallas Cowboys quarterback who brought humor and high jinks to the "Monday Night Football" telecasts for 12 years, died Sunday night in Santa Fe, N.M. He was 72.
Meredith died of a brain hemorrhage, according to his third wife, Susan. He had been mostly out of the public eye since leaving the "Monday Night Football" booth in 1984.
Two years after retiring abruptly from the Cowboys after the 1968 season, a year when he was booed and benched for former Cal QB Craig Morton, Meredith joined Keith Jackson and Howard Cosell to call NFL games on ABC. A year later, Frank Gifford replaced Jackson.
Meredith left ABC in 1973 and spent three years at NBC before returning to the "Monday Night Football" franchise at ABC in 1977. He retired in 1984, a year after Cosell.
Fred Gaudelli, a longtime producer of "MNF," said, "Don played that perfect foil to Cosell," Gaudelli said. "He was the first guy to bring irreverence to the booth. He didn't demean the broadcast, but he didn't make it church, he didn't take the game as gospel. He brought a fun aspect to the thing."
Gifford, who played at USC and then with the New York Giants, said in a statement released by the Giants:
"We helped changed Monday night television into 'Monday Night Football.' Don would occasionally try his hand as an actor, but it wasn't long before he realized that for millions of football fans, he would always be the one who topped Howard Cosell with one-liners.
"But his trademark signature was when a team had a game locked up," Gifford said, when Meredith would sing "Turn out the lights, the party's over," the first line of a Willie Nelson song.
Meredith, who earned the nickname "Dandy Don" for his fun-loving personality, was born April 10, 1938, in Mount Vernon, Texas, about 100 miles northeast of Dallas. He played college football at SMU, his choice because it was, Meredith would joke, "easy to spell."
He was an All-America quarterback his final two seasons at SMU and a third-round pick of the Chicago Bears in 1960. The Bears traded Meredith to the Cowboys for future draft picks and, in 1963, Dallas head coach Tom Landry made Meredith his starting quarterback.
Los Angeles Times, December 7, 2010 04:00 AM
Don Meredith, an accomplished Dallas Cowboys quarterback who brought humor and high jinks to the "Monday Night Football" telecasts for 12 years, died Sunday night in Santa Fe, N.M. He was 72.
Meredith died of a brain hemorrhage, according to his third wife, Susan. He had been mostly out of the public eye since leaving the "Monday Night Football" booth in 1984.
Two years after retiring abruptly from the Cowboys after the 1968 season, a year when he was booed and benched for former Cal QB Craig Morton, Meredith joined Keith Jackson and Howard Cosell to call NFL games on ABC. A year later, Frank Gifford replaced Jackson.
Meredith left ABC in 1973 and spent three years at NBC before returning to the "Monday Night Football" franchise at ABC in 1977. He retired in 1984, a year after Cosell.
Fred Gaudelli, a longtime producer of "MNF," said, "Don played that perfect foil to Cosell," Gaudelli said. "He was the first guy to bring irreverence to the booth. He didn't demean the broadcast, but he didn't make it church, he didn't take the game as gospel. He brought a fun aspect to the thing."
Gifford, who played at USC and then with the New York Giants, said in a statement released by the Giants:
"We helped changed Monday night television into 'Monday Night Football.' Don would occasionally try his hand as an actor, but it wasn't long before he realized that for millions of football fans, he would always be the one who topped Howard Cosell with one-liners.
"But his trademark signature was when a team had a game locked up," Gifford said, when Meredith would sing "Turn out the lights, the party's over," the first line of a Willie Nelson song.
Meredith, who earned the nickname "Dandy Don" for his fun-loving personality, was born April 10, 1938, in Mount Vernon, Texas, about 100 miles northeast of Dallas. He played college football at SMU, his choice because it was, Meredith would joke, "easy to spell."
He was an All-America quarterback his final two seasons at SMU and a third-round pick of the Chicago Bears in 1960. The Bears traded Meredith to the Cowboys for future draft picks and, in 1963, Dallas head coach Tom Landry made Meredith his starting quarterback.