Turn out the lights...

He was a Dandy.

Don Meredith may be known just as much for his exploits as a Television personality, as he is for his great playing career. A whole new generation knew Meredith as one of the 3 voices they heard every Monday night as part of the revolution that changed professional football, and shaped the NFL of today. Not to mention changes the way sports in general were presented on the tube.

His playing days, well, they were not too shabby either. Growing up, I heard about all the Cowboys from the past. My dad was and still is a Cowboys fan, so I got a chance to hear all of these stories more than I cared. I still like the Cowboys, but I leaned way of course by pledging an alliance to the Bengals at some point later in life.

Meredith played his entire career for the 'Boys, and was selected to the Pro Bowl on 3 different occasions. His tenure from 1960-1968 was good enough to be enshrined into the Cowboys 'Ring of Honor'. Meredith played his college ball at SMU where he led the old Southwest Conference in completion percentage every one of his 3 seasons as starter. He also was selected All-America in 1958 and 1959. Originally, Meredith was drafted by the Chicago Bears of the NFL, and was taken as a territorial pick by the AFL's Dallas Texans(Now the Kansas City Chiefs).

But, to me, Meredith had a much more memorable tenure as a TV personality in the booth. He was known for delivering the game, or his perspective of the game, in a folk style, down to earth, good ol' boy style. It was like you were drinking a PBR and eating some fried chicken with the man, as he happened to be talking about a football game.

It was a good change of style from Howard Cosell's delivery, which you could mistake for a lecture.

Whether he was 'Mile High' , coming up with pet names for the president, or talking about how he didn't know a hooker who was fair, Meredith was entertaining. And, when he broke into song belting out 'Turn out the lights, the party's over...', you knew the game was in hand.

Meredith also had a role on the TV show as Detective Jameson on Police Story, as well as staring in various TV ads. Most notably for Lipton Tea.

And thanks to the best show on TV, King of the Hill, Dandy Don was introduced to another generation, through the means of animated television.

Don Meredith succumbed to a brain hemorrhage on December the 5th. He was 72 .

Dandy Don mounted up one last time, and he is headed for the sunset.

Turn out the lights, the party is over, but it was a heck of a party. Matter of fact, it was Dandy.