MALVERN, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Sportswriter and broadcaster Ray Didinger may have retired, but he’s keeping busy — as a playwright. His autobiographical play written in 2016, titled “Tommy and Me,” is now playing at People’s Light in Malvern.
The play is about Didinger’s lifelong friendship with former Eagles player Tommy McDonald and their fight to get him into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
McDonald was drafted by the Eagles in 1957 and remained on the team until 1964. He helped take the Birds to the 1960 NFL championship game. McDonald was the Eagles’ biggest star back when Didinger was growing up — and his favorite player.
“We went up to Eagles training camp because my parents were Eagles fans, and I got to meet him up there,” he recalled. “I asked him for an autograph, as 10-year-old boys do. And he said, ‘Yeah, sure, here. You want to walk with me? You want to carry my helmet?’
“I kept coming back, and I grew from a 10-year-old kid to a 17-year-old high school student, but I still went up there every summer and spent that time with him, and we became friends.”
Later in life, Didinger campaigned to get McDonald into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“So this life journey that we took from the time that I was the little 10-year-old kid asking for an autograph to 1998 when I’m giving the speech for him to go into the Hall of Fame just seemed to be such a remarkable story,” he said.
Didinger said “Tommy and Me” resonates with sports fans and non-fans alike.
“Very often the wife of the guy in the Eagles jersey will say … ‘I’m not even a football fan … but I love this story.’ As a playwright, that makes me feel great,” he said.
After one recent performance, Didinger said several tearful audience members told him the play was incredibly moving.
“When I wrote it, I didn’t quite understand that part of it,” he admitted. “But there’s a real power within that — the love between these two guys and the sense of this little boy’s dream finally coming true and helping his hero share that dream is pretty powerful stuff.”
“Tommy and Me” will be on stage at People’s Light through Feb. 1.