Meredith became a pop culture icon as an original cast member of a show —Monday Night Football — that debuted in 1970 with a daring premise: Sports might actually work in primetime if it was wrapped in show biz.

Teamed with Howard Cosell and Keith Jackson, Meredith didn't sound like the often-solemn NFL announcers of the era. He cackled. He sang, most memorably Willie Nelson's Turn Out the Lights when games seem clinched. He became the marketing prototype of the modern athlete-turned-announcer with high-profile product endorsements and roles in primetime TV shows.

Meredith had two stints on ABC's MNF, from 1970-73 and from 1977-84. In between, he worked for NBC, teaming with Curt Gowdy on NFL telecasts and starring on Police Story. He also did Lipton Tea commercials.

But as Dallas' star quarterback long before anybody considered it America's Team, Meredith could take a hit. Drafted by Chicago in 1960 and traded to the expansion Cowboys, Meredith led the team to its first winning season in 1966 and an NFL title game loss to Green Bay. That happened again the next season, when Green Bay's win came in the so-called "Ice Bowl" on Green Bay's frozen tundra where temperatures reached well below zero.

"He got beat up pretty bad," recalls former teammate Lee Roy Jordan of Meredith's nine-year career, which ended when he unexpectedly announced his retirement before the 1969 season. "Broken noses and collarbones and ribs, everything you can think of, Don had it. But he was one tough individual."

Gil Brandt, who oversaw Cowboys personnel for nearly three decades starting in 1960, says people "always thought of Don as that smiling, cheerful personality. … But he was one of the toughest players we ever had. Despite the skinny legs and the fact he never really lifted weights, he was one of the toughest individuals you'll ever come across."

Says Cowboys owner Jerry Jones: "His persona defined the Cowboys in the 1960s and set the course for what the franchise became."

Meredith left MNF for NBC after the 1973 season, but returned in 1977 before retiring in 1984 — and largely stayed out of the public eye as he lived the last three decades in Santa Fe "I don't feel reclusive," he told Sports Illustrated in 2000. "I actually feel kinda normal."

After being born and raised in Mount Vernon, Texas and then playing for SMU, Meredith never played a home game outside North Texas. But he'll be buried in a private service in Santa Fe.