Ray Didinger’s play about his friendship with football legend Tommy McDonald comes to the Bucks County Playhouse

Some people spend summers down the Shore; others book Pocono vacations.

But not the Didingers from Delco, including little Ray, then 10.

“Every summer we would drive to Hershey, which is where the Eagles had their training camp,” recalled sportscaster Ray Didinger, 76. “We would go to practice every morning and afternoon, stand out in the hot sun.

“That was our summer vacation; our parents loved the Eagles that much.”

So does Didinger, author and playwright, whose Tommy and Me is now on stage at the Bucks County Playhouse through June 17.

Didinger penned the play about his friendship with Eagles football legend Tommy McDonald — a friendship that began when Didinger was a shy boy hustling autographs in Hershey.

“I had a fascination with Tommy McDonald,” said Didinger, a former sportswriter for the Daily News and Evening Bulletin who continued his sports career with NFL Films, and mostly retired last year from WIP radio and NBC Sports.

The Eagles had signed McDonald in 1957 directly from the University of Oklahoma. “He was their superstar all-American halfback — and he was 5′9″ and 170 pounds. He looked like he was about 12 years old. He was a tiny little guy with short cropped blond hair and honestly, he didn’t look much bigger than I was,” Didinger said.

At 10, “everyone looks big to you, but he didn’t.”

Maybe that’s why young Ray had the nerve to ask McDonald for an autograph. McDonald agreed and asked Didinger to hold his helmet while he signed his name.

“What a thrill that I actually got to carry his helmet,” said Didinger, who didn’t stop running his mouth that day, charming the player by citing statistics and facts gleaned from sports magazines.

Their meetings became a daily occurrence. One day, when they were sitting in the bleachers, McDonald put his arm around Didinger and said, “Why you’re like my little brother.” And from then on, that’s what McDonald called Didinger.

McDonald, who led the Eagles to victory over the Green Bay Packers for the 1960 NFL championship with a 35-yard touchdown reception, was traded to Dallas in 1964. Didinger grew up and became a sportswriter, covering the Eagles.

When he met McDonald, then retired, he never brought up their connection, wanting to keep a professional distance.

Didinger, at 6 feet, was hardly a little brother. No wonder McDonald didn’t recognize him.

As Didinger gained influence in the world of sports, he led a successful campaign to get McDonald inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. At the 1998 ceremony in Canton, Ohio, he was asked to introduce McDonald. The two rode in a convertible through the streets of Canton, before the ceremony.

“If I ever was going to tell him, it would have to be then,” Didinger said.

“To my great surprise and delight, he remembered every bit of it. He got this look on his face, and he said, ‘You were that kid. You were little brother.’”

The artistic directors who run New Hope’s Bucks County Playhouse so loved Didinger’s play when they staged it last year that they decided to start afresh and produce their own version of it.

Karl Kenzler, who played Sen. Charles Holburn in the Washington TV drama House of Cards, portrays Didinger. For Tommy, the Playhouse cast Gordon Clapp, Det. Greg Medavoy for all 12 seasons of NYPD Blue. Nick Corley directs.

“Tommy And Me,” Bucks County Playhouse through June 17, 70 S. Main St., New Hope, 215-862-2121 or bcptheater.org.

Check with the theater for COVID-19 protocols.

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