Joseph Don "Dandy Don" Meredith was an
American football quarterback,
sports commentator and
actor died from a brain hemorrhage he was , 72. He spent all nine seasons of his professional playing career (
1960–
1968) with the
Dallas Cowboys of the
National Football League (NFL). He was named to the
Pro Bowl in each of his last three years as a player. He subsequently became a
color analyst for NFL telecasts from
1970 to
1984. As an original member of the
Monday Night Football broadcast team on the
American Broadcasting Company (ABC), he famously played the role of
Howard Cosell's
comic foil.
Southern Methodist University

Meredith was born on April 10, 1938 in
Mount Vernon, Texas, located approximately 100 miles east of
Dallas.
[1] He attended
Mount Vernon High School in his hometown,
[2] where he starred in football and
basketball, performed in school
plays and graduated second in his class.
[3]
Even though he was heavily recruited by then-
Texas A&M head coach Bear Bryant,
[3] Meredith decided to play
college football at
Southern Methodist University (SMU). He led the
Southwest Conference in passing completion percentage in each of his three years as the starting quarterback, and was an
All-America selection in 1958 and 1959.
[4] His fellow students jokingly referred to the school as "Southern Meredith University" due to his popularity on campus.
[5] He completed 8 of 20 passes for 156
yards in the College All-Stars' 32–7 loss to the
Baltimore Colts in the
Chicago College All-Star Game on August 12, 1960.
[6]
He would be honored twice by SMU in later decades. He was the recipient of the university's Distinguished Alumni Award in 1983. His
jersey number 17 was retired during
halftime ceremonies at the SMU-
Houston football match on October 18, 2008.
[4] He was also inducted into the
College Football Hall of Fame in 1982.
[7]
Dallas Cowboys
Meredith was selected by the
Chicago Bears in the third round (32nd overall) of the
1960 NFL Draft.
[8] Bears owner
George Halas made the pick to help ensure that the expansion Dallas Cowboys got off to a solid start. On November 28, 1959, one
month prior to the draft, Meredith had signed a personal services
contract with
Tecon Corporation which, like the Cowboys, was owned by
Clint Murchison. He was eventually traded to the Cowboys for a third-round pick in the following year's draft. He is considered by some to be the original Dallas Cowboy because he had come to the team even before the
franchise had adopted a
nickname, hired a
head coach or participated in either the
1960 NFL Expansion Draft or its first NFL Draft in
1961.
[9][10] Their
crosstown rivals in the
American Football League (AFL), the
Texans, also chose him as a "territorial selection" in their
1960 draft, but were too late to sign him.
Meredith spent two years as a backup to
Eddie LeBaron, eventually splitting time in
1962 before he was given the full-time starting job by head coach
Tom Landry in
1963. In
1966, Meredith led the Cowboys to the NFL postseason, something he would continue to do until his unexpected retirement before the
1969 season. His two most heartbreaking defeats came in NFL Championship play against the
Green Bay Packers, 34–27 in Dallas (1966), and in the famous "
Ice Bowl" game, 21–17 in Green Bay (1967).
"Dandy Don," while never leading the Cowboys to a
Super Bowl, was always exceptionally popular with Cowboys fans who remember him for his grit and toughness, his outgoing nature, and his leadership during the first winning seasons for the Cowboys. Meredith, along with
Harvey Martin, is among the few players to play his high school (Mount Vernon), college (SMU), and pro (Dallas Cowboys) career in and around the Dallas, Texas, area. During his career, he had a 50.7 percent completion rate, throwing for 17,199 yards and 135
touchdowns with a lifetime
passer rating of 74.8. He was named the NFL Player of the Year in
1966 and was named to the
Pro Bowl three times.
Following his football career, Meredith became a
color commentator for
ABC's
Monday Night Football beginning in
1970. He left for three seasons (
1974 to
1976) to work with
Curt Gowdy at
NBC, then returned to
MNF partners
Frank Gifford and
Howard Cosell. His approach to color commentary was light-hearted and folksy, in contrast to Cosell's detailed and intellectual analysis and Gifford's rather ponderous play-by-play technique. He was known for singing
"Turn out the lights, the party's over" (a line from a
Willie Nelson song, "
The Party's Over") at the time
the game was apparently decided.
Meredith's broadcasting career was also not without a few incidents of minor controversy; including referring to then-
President Richard Nixon as "Tricky Dick", announcing that he was "mile-high" before a game in Denver, and turning the name of
Cleveland Browns receiver
Fair Hooker into a double entendre. (saying 'Fair Hooker...well, I haven't met one yet!') He retired from sportscasting after the
1984 season,
a year after Cosell's retirement. His final broadcast was
Super Bowl XIX with Frank Gifford and
Joe Theismann, which was ABC's first Super Bowl.
Meredith also had an acting career, appearing in multiple movies and television shows, including a recurring starring role as Detective Bert Jameson on
Police Story. He was in a series of commercials in the 1980s as
Lipton Tea Lover, Don Meredith, a.k.a. "Jeff and Hazel's Baby Boy". He was featured in an episode of
King of the Hill, ("
A Beer Can Named Desire") in which he misses a throw that would have won the main character,
Hank Hill, $100,000.
In
1976, Meredith was inducted into the
Cowboys' Ring of Honor at
Texas Stadium along with former running back
Don Perkins.
Meredith was selected as the 2007 recipient of the
Pro Football Hall of Fame's
Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award. He received the award at the Enshrinee's Dinner on August 3, 2007.
Family
Meredith was married three times: first wife, Lynne Shamburger, a former SMU cheerleader,which lasted from 1959–1963, and produced one daughter, Mary. From 1965–1971, he was married to the former Cheryl King. Two children were products of that marriage: son
Michael and daughter Heather. He met his third wife, the former Susan Lessons Dullea, ex-wife of actor
Keir Dullea, as they both were walking down 3rd Avenue in New York City. They married in 1972.
Death
Meredith died on December 5, 2010, at the
St. Vincent Regional Medical Center,
Santa Fe, New Mexico, after suffering a
brain hemorrhage. He was 72 years old.
[10]
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