Long before America’s Team was a global marketing titan, it was a fledgling expansion franchise in desperate need of an identity. Enter Joseph Donald "Dandy Don" Meredith. A star at Southern Methodist University who was born and raised in Mount Vernon, Texas, Meredith was signed to a personal-services contract before the Cowboys even officially existed. When Dallas took the field for its inaugural 1960 season, the charismatic local hero instantly became the franchise’s first true face.

After splitting time early in his career, Meredith took full command of Tom Landry’s complex offense as the undisputed starter in 1963. He brought a loose, swaggering charm to the huddle that perfectly complemented Landry’s rigid, methodical demeanor. Armed with a deep-ball touch and extraordinary toughness—regularly dusting himself off after taking brutal hits behind a young offensive line—Meredith transformed Dallas from a league laughingstock into a championship contender.

His finest individual play arrived during a three-year Pro Bowl run from 1966 through 1968. In 1966, Meredith earned the Bert Bell Award as the NFL’s Most Valuable Player after throwing for a career-high 2,805 yards and 24 touchdowns. Paced by his 15.8 yards per completion—which led the entire NFL for a second consecutive year—he guided Dallas to its first-ever winning record (9–3–1) and a spot in the NFL Championship Game. Though heartbreaks against Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers in the 1966 title game and the legendary 1967 "Ice Bowl" weighed heavily on him, Meredith was the engine that turned Dallas into a perennial powerhouse.

Weary of the physical toll and intense media pressure, Meredith shocked the football world by retiring after the 1968 season at just 31 years old. His magnetic personality made him a natural fit for television, where he joined Howard Cosell and Frank Gifford in 1970 as an original color commentator for Monday Night Football. His folksy wit, quick humor, and signature singing of "Turn Out the Lights, the Party's Over" whenever a game was out of reach revolutionized sports broadcasting.

Across nine active seasons spent exclusively with the Dallas Cowboys (1960–1968), Meredith played in 104 regular-season games, compiling 17,199 passing yards, 135 touchdown passes, and 1,216 rushing yards with 15 ground touchdowns. A three-time Pro Bowl selection, All-Pro, and 1966 Bert Bell Award winner, "Dandy Don" was inducted into the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor in 1976 alongside teammate Don Perkins, forever remembered as the Texas folk hero who put the franchise on the map.