Don Meredith dies at age 72

[SirSaxa]

Don Meredith dies at age 72

EXCERPT
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Don Meredith, one of the most recognizable figures of the early Dallas Cowboys and an original member of ABC's "Monday Night Football" broadcast team, died Sunday. He was 72.

Meredith's wife, Susan, told The Associated Press on Monday her husband died in Santa Fe after suffering a brain hemorrhage and lapsing into a coma.

I was shocked to read this today.
He made MNF fun every week, and he was a pretty darn good QB, especially when Bullet Bob Hayes arrived.
Sadly, it finally is time to "Turn out the lights, the party's over".

RIP

[DFW HOYA]

Don's health had been in decline for a while--he was the only living Cowboys Ring of Honor legend not to make it to the dedication of Jerry World last summer.

While before my time (I came of age as a fan during the Morton-Staubach battles), Don Meredith was as vastly underrated QB who may have been the most hated sports figure in Dallas sports history, simply because he didn't get the Cowboys to the title. Many of his passing yardage records have only recently been challenged or topped by Tony Romo--between Bob Hayes, Frank Clarke, Don Perkins, and a young Dan Reeves, the Cowboys were an offensive machine of that era.

In 1966, the Cowboys fell to the Packers in the title game that led to Super Bowl I, 34-27, with a late interception in the end zone. A year later, the Cowboys lost on the last play of the game in the Ice Bowl. Were fortunes kinder, it could have been Meredith, not Bart Starr, with those first two rings, and it is possible Dallas could have won four (or five) of the first six Super Bowls as a result.

"Don and I were never real close," Tom Landry once said. "Not that I (didn't) like Don; I liked him fine. But you'd have to say we were really on different wave lengths. In defense of Don, he came up with some very poor teams. Gosh, they were awful. He took some tremendous punishment. I never had a player take more punishment or show more courage than Don. But Don just didn't have the dedication to be the best quarterback in the business. He was very, very talented, maybe the most talented quarterback I've ever coached. Therefore, he could get by ... without tremendous dedication. He didn't have to do what he had to do to become great. And he could have been great."

Meredith was an All-American at SMU and still holds the city record with 50 points in at the Dr. Pepper high school basketball tournament in 1957.

[hoyainspirit]

Loved Dandy Don on MNF. He and Cosell - legendary! I even (somewhat) liked the Cowboys in his day.

[Elvado]

Sad. Dandy Don always got that sports are supposed to be fun and that he was lucky to have the gig talking about them.

Plus he threw up on Cosell's shoes in the booth...

[SirSaxa]

Dec 6, 2010 11:19:20 GMT -5 DFW HOYA said:

In 1966, the Cowboys fell to the Packers in the title game that led to Super Bowl I, 34-27, with a late interception in the end zone. A year later, the Cowboys lost on the last play of the game in the Ice Bowl. Were fortunes kinder, it could have been Meredith, not Bart Starr, with those first two rings, and it is possible Dallas could have won four (or five) of the first six Super Bowls as a result.

Those two NFL title games prior to the first two Superbowls were Tremendous games, between two Superb teams. You may recall the first two Superbowls were pretty much GB blowouts, reinforcing the perception of the NFL as vastly superior to the AFL.. leading to the biggest Superbowl upset ever the next year when Broadway Joe beat the B Colts.

Back to GB v Dallas, both NFL Championship games came down to the last seconds and final possession. One year Dallas needed to Score to win, the next year Dallas needed to Stop GB. Both years, GB made the plays they had to (including Bart Starr's QB sneak on an iced over field on the game's final play as Vince opted NOT to kick a game tie-ing FG), and won each game -- by a nose.

Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry had been the Offensive and Defensive coordinators respectively for the NY Giants in the late '50s.
Lombardi became the lowly Packers HC in 1959. Landry took over the expansion Cowboys a year later. They built two of the best teams in NFL history.

Dandy Don Meredith was a great QB. But we (at least, those of us outside Dallas) did not realize what a fun guy he was until he joined the MNF broadcast team.

Though I am not, and never was, a Cowboys fan, one can't help but recognize some of the great Cowboys over the years. Staubach, Bob Lily, Randy White, Drew Pearson, Bob Hayes, Mel Renfro, Emmitt, Troy, Mike, Too Tall, etc.

But for me, it all really started with Dandy Don -- the leader of those early Tom Landry teams that built the Cowboys reputation and national following.

[hoyarooter]

This is an extreme bummer. I loved Dandy Don as an announcer, particularly since he was the polar opposite of the Humble One. He just seemed like the kind of guy you'd love to have a beer with - and I don't even like beer.

[DFW HOYA]

Dec 6, 2010 12:25:01 GMT -5 Elvado said:

Sad. Dandy Don always got that sports are supposed to be fun and that he was lucky to have the gig talking about them. Plus he threw up on Cosell's shoes in the booth...

It was the other way around.

As the story goes, Cosell got drunk before the first half of a 1970 MNF game and proceeded to slur his way across the coverage, eventually throwing up on Meredith's shoes. The 52 year old Cosell attributed his condition to dizziness, allegedly running laps around the field before the game with Olympic sprinter Tommie Smith.

At halftime, Cosell got up and unexpectedly left the booth, went downstairs, hailed a cab and told him to take him home. Only Cosell lived in Manhattan...and the game was at Philadelphia's Franklin Field. One could only imagine if such behavior happened in today's 24 hour news cycle.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Field#Howard_Cosell_taken_ill

[Elvado]

Dec 6, 2010 13:46:48 GMT -5 DFW HOYA said:

Dec 6, 2010 12:25:01 GMT -5 Elvado said:

Sad. Dandy Don always got that sports are supposed to be fun and that he was lucky to have the gig talking about them. Plus he threw up on Cosell's shoes in the booth...

It was the other way around.

As the story goes, Cosell got drunk before the first half of a 1970 MNF game and proceeded to slur his way across the coverage, eventually throwing up on Meredith's shoes. The 52 year old Cosell attributed the act to dizziness after allegedly running laps around the field with Olympic sprinter Tommie Smith before the game.

At halftime, Cosell got up and unexpectedly left the booth, went downstairs, hailed a cab and told him to take him home. Only Cosell lived in Manhattan...and the game was at Philadelphia's Franklin Field.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Field#Howard_Cosell_taken_ill

My bad. Thanks for the correction. I was subconsciously hoping it was Cosell who got yacked upon.

[EasyEd]

Loved Don Meredith as an announcer. Hated Don Meredith as a Cowboy quarterback since that was the beginning of the real rivalry between my Redskins and his Cowboys. The duals between Meredith and Sonny Jurgenson were wild. I'm sure my memory exaggerates some but it seemed like all the games were 42-40 or something like that. But as much as I loathed him in a Boys uniform, he was great as part of the MNF crew and they have never been as good since then.

[DanMcQ]

[TBird41]

Posnanski:

joeposnanski.blogspot.com/2010/12/dandy-don.html#more

As usual, a gem of a piece. The opening is universal and yet personal. I'm not sure if there's a better way to put it, but jeez, that was good writing.

[hoyarooter]

Dec 6, 2010 23:47:53 GMT -5 TBird41 said:

Posnanski:

joeposnanski.blogspot.com/2010/12/dandy-don.html#more

As usual, a gem of a piece. The opening is universal and yet personal. I'm not sure if there's a better way to put it, but jeez, that was good writing.

+1, without a doubt.