30 Facts About Don Meredith

Joseph "Dandy" Don Meredith was an American football player, sports commentator, and actor.

Don Meredith played as a quarterback for all nine seasons of his professional career with the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League.

Don Meredith was named to the Pro Bowl in each of his last three years as a player.

Don Meredith subsequently became a color analyst for NFL telecasts from 1970 to 1984.

Don Meredith is probably familiar to television audiences as Bert Jameson, a recurring role he had in Police Story.

Don Meredith was born on April 10,1938, in Mount Vernon, Texas, located about 100 miles east of Dallas.

Don Meredith attended Mount Vernon High School in his hometown, where he starred in football and basketball, performed in school plays, and graduated second in his class.

Don Meredith 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.

Don Meredith was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1982.

The Dallas Cowboys franchise was admitted to the league too late to participate in the 1960 NFL Draft, so on November 28,1959, two days before the draft, Don Meredith signed a five-year personal services contract with Tecon Corporation, which like the Cowboys, was owned by Clint Murchison.

Don Meredith was intending to attend law school before the deal.

Don Meredith was selected by the Chicago Bears in the third round of the 1960 NFL Draft, after Bears owner George Halas made the pick to help ensure that the expansion Cowboys got off to a solid start.

Don Meredith 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 scout, or participated in either the 1960 NFL Expansion Draft or its first NFL Draft in 1961.

Don 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, Don Meredith led the Cowboys to the NFL postseason, something he continued to do until his unexpected retirement before the 1969 season.

Don Meredith was named the NFL Player of the Year in 1966 and was named to the Pro Bowl three times.

Don Meredith became a color commentator for Monday Night Football beginning in 1970.

Don Meredith left for three seasons to work with Curt Gowdy at NFL on NBC, then returned to MNF partners Frank Gifford and Howard Cosell.

Don Meredith was known for singing "Turn out the lights, the party's over" at garbage time.

Don Meredith retired from sportscasting after the 1984 season, a year after Cosell's retirement.

Don Meredith moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he lived in seclusion as a painter until his passing.

The novel North Dallas Forty, written by former Dallas Cowboy wide receiver and Don Meredith teammate Peter Gent, is a fictional account of life in the NFL during the 1960s, featuring quarterback Seth Maxwell, a character widely believed to be based on Don Meredith, and receiver Phil Elliot, believed to be based on Gent.

Don Meredith was selected as the 2007 recipient of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award.

Don Meredith received the award at the Enshrinee's Dinner on August 3,2007.

Don Meredith had an acting career, appearing in multiple movies and television shows.

Don Meredith voiced himself in an episode of King of the Hill, in which he misses a throw that would have won the main character, Hank Hill, $100,000.

Don Meredith was part of an ensemble cast in his son Michael Meredith's Three Days of Rain with Blythe Danner, Peter Falk, and Jason Patric.

Don Meredith met his third wife, the former Susan Lessons Dullea, as they were both walking on Third Avenue in New York City.

Don Meredith died on December 5,2010, at St Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, after suffering a brain hemorrhage.

Don Meredith was laid to rest in his hometown of Mount Vernon, Texas.