OPINION: ‘Dandy’ Don a trendsetter in broadcast booth

While my father could no doubt tell you about Meredith as a player on the football field for the Dallas Cowboys in the 1960s, my memories of “Dandy” Don were as an announcer, primarily as part of the original Monday Night Football crew.

In fact, I would have to say some of my earliest memories of watching football were with Meredith, Howard Cosell and Frank Gifford calling the action on Monday nights in the fall. During this time, Monday Night Football was something special. While I enjoy having football on every night of the week now, (it’s true, you can watch some type of game every night live during the fall) at the time Monday Night Football was something unique and Meredith was a big part of the successful formula on the ABC broadcasts.

The pairing of Meredith with Cosell and Gifford was a brilliant piece of work. (It should be noted that Gifford replaced Keith Jackson after the first year of MNF much to the dismay of the man who would become known for announcing college football.) Meredith, Cosell and Gifford were a dream team of announcers and with the exception of Pat Summerall and John Madden, no announcing group has come close.

Gifford was the straight forward play-by-play man on the broadcasts. Cosell was the instigator, always stirring things up. In fact, a large portion of the audience did not like Cosell, but his presence with the other two made the combination successful. Meredith was often the comedian of the group, cracking jokes, singing, making fun of Cosell and doing things which had never been heard before on football telecasts.

Meredith was someone who seemed to be having fun while broadcasting the Monday night games. In fact, he once said the reason he stopped playing for the Cowboys was because the game was no longer fun. He retired in 1968 despite attempts from Tom Landry to convince him otherwise.

Shortly afterwards, Meredith was offered a spot in the broadcast booth and while it is common place to see former players doing it now, Meredith was certainly one of the best. The fact he was in the booth made the game worth watching, regardless of which teams were on the field.

It was somewhat ironic that Meredith played for the Cowboys. He grew up in Texas and competed at SMU before moving onto the professional level in an era when salaries came no where near what they are today. Once his career as a broadcaster took off, he also began doing commercials and even starred in some television movies.

While Monday Night Football continues today, the ratings for the show have never been able to top the heights it achieved in the 70s with Meredith, Cosell and Gifford. When ABC decided to drop it as part of its sports coverage, ESPN (the two are owned by the same company) took it over. Despite numerous attempts to recreate the magic in the booth, the loss of Meredith and Cosell (who both left in the mid 1980s) and Gifford (who was eventually forced out) mean the show will likely never be the same.

His last movie appearance was in a 2002 production few have heard of called “Six Days of Rain.” I remember stumbling across it in the video store and renting it since he was in it. It was not a bad movie, but my mind kept drifting back to my childhood when settling down in front of the television on a Monday night in the fall was something special. We lost part of what made that special in recent days I’m sorry to say.

Chris Bridges is editor of the Barrow Journal, a sister publication of The Banks County News. He can be reached at cbridges@barrowjournal.com.