Meadows became a controversial player in his third year due to a play in the 1956 regular season finale against the Detroit Lions. The Bears (8–2–1) hosted the Lions (9–2) at Wrigley Field and needed a win to claim the Western Conference title. Early in the second quarter, Meadows' vicious hit behind the play, a pitchout to running back Gene Gedman,[2] knocked Detroit's hall of fame quarterback Bobby Layne out of the game with a concussion.[3][4][5] He was not penalized for that play but was soon ejected, near the end of the first half, for unsportsmanlike conduct against Lion fullback Bill Bowman.[6] The Bears won the game 38–21 and advanced to the league title game. Detroit head coach Buddy Parker felt strongly that the late hit on Layne was both cheap and illegal, and appealed to NFL Commissioner Bert Bell to suspend Meadows,[6][7][8] but no action was taken. He played in the NFL championship game two weeks later in Yankee Stadium against the Giants,[9] which New York won in a rout, 47–7.[10][11][12][13]
Meadows was later in the tire business in North Carolina; he died at his home near Morehead City in 1974 at age 42, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest.[14][15][16] He is buried at Elmwood Cemetery in his hometown of Oxford.
