"Dandy" Don Meredith a True Innovator (1938-2010)

Meredith (center) with Cosell (left) and Gifford (right)

                                      

 “Dandy” Don Meredith was one of the original commentators for Monday Night Football when it debuted on ABC in 1970.  He formed a three-man team of commentators along with the outspoken Howard Cosell and former NFL legend Frank Gifford.  Monday Night Football and this team of commentators would go on to revolutionize the way football was broadcasted and bring its popularity to new heights.   

It was a risky venture when it started, but Monday Night Football 

Meredith playing for the Dallas Cowboys

would prove its doubters wrong, as it quickly became must                                    

see TV for sports fans and non-sports fans.   

No one had ever dared to put a sporting 

event in primetime television on a major network, but 

ABC saw the promise in marketing Monday Night Football 

as not only a show but also as an event.

At the center of this “event” was the three-man booth of Cosell, Gifford (who replaced Keith Jackson) and Meredith.  Meredith’s folksy, cheerful charisma proved to be the perfect complement to Cosell who was outspoken and opinionated.  Viewers tuned in to hear what light-hearted comment Meredith would make to bring levity to Cosell’s opinions.  Meredith’s comments sometimes drew criticism, but he remained true to himself and endeared himself to viewers everywhere.  Together, they would change the way that media corporations and television viewers would view the role of the broadcast team.  No longer was the role of the commentator to recite what the viewer had just seen on television, but rather the commentator was there to entertain the viewers as well. Meredith helped give birth to a new age of sports broadcasting which realized that the commentator could become central to the viewer’s television experience.  For that, we reflect on Meredith and the entire Monday Night Football team as innovators in their field.