McDonald spent one unhappy season in Dallas. He caught just 46 passes for 612 yards and two touchdowns playing for the 5-8-1 Cowboys. After the season, he went to coach Tom Landry and requested a trade. Landry shipped him to Los Angeles where he had a big year playing with quarterback Roman Gabriel. McDonald had 67 catches for 1,036 yards and nine touchdowns, earning his sixth trip to the Pro Bowl.

"I never fit in with Dallas," McDonald said. "Landry wanted to run the ball and he had a good back in (Don) Perkins but it wasn't my kind of offense. We had good receivers like Frank Clarke and Buddy Dial, but it was like we were second-string or something. I got frustrated. It was not a fun year, let's put it that way."

For McDonald, the highlight of the season was December 6 when the Cowboys came to Philadelphia to play the Eagles. It was a meaningless game between two teams going nowhere but 60,671 fans filled Franklin Field to welcome McDonald back to Philadelphia.

"I remember walking into Franklin Field that morning, looking up at those wooden bleachers," McDonald said. "It was like coming home. I had so many great memories there especially the (1960) championship game against Green Bay, catching the touchdown pass from (quarterback Norm) Van Brocklin. I had tears in my eyes just walking in there.

"The fans were calling my name, saying 'Welcome home, we miss you,' stuff like that. I wanted to have a good game. Not to show up Kuharich or anything like that. I just wanted to do it for the fans and to have that feeling one more time."

As usual, McDonald delivered, pulling in a 12-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Don Meredith. The play was just a footnote in a 24-14 Eagles victory but it got the biggest cheer of the day.

"Meredith looked at me in the huddle and said, 'I know you want this one, Tommy,'" McDonald said. "It was a great feeling to make the catch and hear the cheers knowing they were for me. I loved playing at Franklin Field. The fans were right on top of you."

One final note about that day. McDonald asked Landry's permission to bring his dog on the team charter. His wife and kids spent that season in King of Prussia and McDonald was homesick in Dallas, so he thought having his poodle might help. Landry agreed assuming it was a miniature poodle. However, Calhoun (that was the dog's name) was a standard poodle, so it was the size of a Labrador retriever.

As McDonald was boarding the plane, an airport worker asked for an autograph. McDonald dropped the leash to sign the autograph and when he did, Calhoun took off running across the airport runway. It took airport security and all the Cowboys personnel to chase him down and get him on the plane. Landry watched the whole thing from his window seat. He was not amused.

"Dad said he wasn't sorry to leave Dallas," McDonald's son Chris said, "and I'm pretty sure Landry wasn't sorry to see Calhoun leave either."