Don Meredith: The Dandy One Dies

December 7, 2010   ·   Gene Strother   ·   Jump to comments

Don Meredith was listed at 6'3", 210 pounds, but to a growing nation of football fans, he was bigger than life. Because of him and his ABC booth partners, Frank Gifford and Howard Cosell, the NFL experienced unprecedented growth during the 1970s. The game that had long labored under the giant shadow of Major League Baseball emerged to become America's new pastime.

People tuned into Monday Night Football, not just for the game, but for the show. Meredith, Gifford and Cosell became overnight sensations and household names. Gifford's no-nonsense play-by-play delivery, Cosell's haughty intellectualism and abrasiveness, and Meredith's homespun, down-home wit made for a chemistry in the booth never seen before or sense.

People loved to hate Howard Cosell, which contributed to their affection for Don Meredith. The east Texas-born former Dallas Cowboys quarterback handled Cosell masterfully, often pointing out Cosell's gaffes or disagreeing with his points, but always in a humoro...

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