Kemo
12-07-2010, 12:15 AM
Don Meredith, a star quarterback on the football field and a legendary broadcaster off it, died on Sunday in Santa Fe, N.M., after suffering a brain hemorrhage. He was at 72.
Meredith played nine seasons for the Dallas Cowboys in the 1960s, and then upstaged himself with a distinguished broadcasting career on ABC's Monday Night Football, where he served two stints – from 1970-73 and 1977-84.
He was one of the first players to make the transition to the broadcast booth, and quickly won over viewers with a colorful, folksy, Southern style that included singing the Willie Nelson line "Turn out the lights, the party's over" when a team's lead seemed insurmountable.
"He was the best there was," Meredith's wife, Susan, told the Associated Press. "We lost a good one."
Meredith, who grew up in Mount Vernon, Texas, led the Cowboys to NFL championship games in 1966 and 1967 but lost both times to Green Bay.
Meredith played nine seasons for the Dallas Cowboys in the 1960s, and then upstaged himself with a distinguished broadcasting career on ABC's Monday Night Football, where he served two stints – from 1970-73 and 1977-84.
He was one of the first players to make the transition to the broadcast booth, and quickly won over viewers with a colorful, folksy, Southern style that included singing the Willie Nelson line "Turn out the lights, the party's over" when a team's lead seemed insurmountable.
"He was the best there was," Meredith's wife, Susan, told the Associated Press. "We lost a good one."
Meredith, who grew up in Mount Vernon, Texas, led the Cowboys to NFL championship games in 1966 and 1967 but lost both times to Green Bay.