Park Cities Legends & Legacies— Jerry Jones

10 min readAug 7, 2022

Legends of Park Cities is a series of articles focusing on some of the most prominent and accomplished families of Highland and University Park.

Some are business tycoons, some are real estate developers, others made their name in professional sports and still others battled for millions at the poker tables of Las Vegas. But irrespective how their fortune was made, all these families have left an indelible, long-lasting mark on our community.

In this, the first installment of ‘The Legends’ series, we’ll take a retrospective look at the life of Mr. Jerry Jones.

Gene Jones — Mom of the Dallas Cowboys
Jerry Jones — The Grocer’s Son
Purchase of the Cowboys
Other Business Ventures
Jerry’s Toys
Jerry’s Home

If you find this topic interesting, click here to view additional articles from my archive.

Gene Jones — The Mom of the Dallas Cowboys

Married to one of the most high-profile men in the country, Eugenia (Gene) Jones has been Jerry’s rock for over half a century, playing a pivotal role in his success.

Quick Facts

Born: Gene was born in 1944 to John Ed Chambers II and Patricia Sloan Chambers
Miss Arkansas: Gene won the prestigious pageant back in 1960
Marriage: Jerry married Gene, his college sweetheart, in 1963. The couple initially met on a blind date set up by mutual friends. Jerry took her to a festival, and tried to win a teddy bear at the fair game, but despite his best efforts he was not able to win the prize. Never a man to take no for an answer, Jerry bought the biggest teddy bear they had and presented it to Gene.

Children: Eugenia is a mother of three children, two sons and one daughter, Stephen, Charlotte and Jerry Junior
Grandchildren: Gene and Jerry have 9 grandchildren

According to Gene, Jerry has been a family man from day one. Here’s how she tells the story:

“I’ll never forget when the kids were young, Jerry introduced me to a business friend who asked me about Jerry’s hobbies. Does he play golf? I thought about it for a moment and answered that Jerry’s hobbies are his kids. That’s the way he’s been from the start”.

Jerry Jones — The Grocer’s Son

To understand what makes Jerry Jones tick, we have to go back more than 60 years, to when Mr. Jones was a little boy working for his entrepreneur-father in their Arkansas supermarket.

Formative Years

Jerral Wayne ‘Jerry’ Jones was born on 13 October 1942, in Los Angeles, California.

After his birth, the family moved to North Little Rock, Arkansas, where his parents, Arminta and J. W. Pat Jones, were the owners of Pat’s Super Market, where, according to Jerry, his father was a hands-on owner and a consummate salesman.

“My dad would walk around in full cowboy gear carrying six guns and all,” Jones recalls. “We had a bandstand right in the middle of the store, and he would put all sorts of events on that stage, like talent shows.”

As business owners, Jerry’s parents played a pivotal role in shaping his entrepreneurial spirit:

“Momma was the one who put the bow tie on me when I was 9 years old at the store to greet the customers. My jobs as I grew older were to make and sell the ice cream or I would take the watermelons and stack them up. I’d personally sell the watermelons and I would be on a commission. The more we sold there the more I would make. So therein lies how I got entrepreneurial. That right there. I had some great coaching from family. That’s the way you live.”

When not helping out his dad, Jerry attended North Little Rock High School, where he was a football running back, and upon matriculating in 1960, he enrolled at the University of Arkansas, from which he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Business.

The Father-in-Law

In addition to his parents, Mr. Jones credits his father in-law for being another major influence in his life. But it wasn’t smooth sailing from the start:

“He was very rough on me when I married Gene. He wouldn’t even look at me when she showed him the engagement ring and I had to ask him for her hand. He just looked at her and said I hope you are happy and turned and walked off. He didn’t even look at me.”
“Well, he turned out to be the greatest man other than my Dad in my life. He was such an inspiration. For instance, without me knowing it one time, he signed my note with the bank. When I paid the loan for $50,000, they made the mistake of sending it back to me rather than to him. He personally guaranteed it. The most he had ever borrowed was $15,000, but he signed my note for $50,000 and didn’t tell me about it. I really loved him.”

Early Business Ventures

After graduation, Jerry’s family moved to Springfield, Missouri, and his father started a life insurance company, in which Jerry was an executive vice president.

The company was successful, however, the family sold the business and bought a 5,500-acre ranch to start the Buena Vista Animal Paradise.

Pat started to import exotic animals onto the property with hopes that tourists and locals would come to see some species that they’d never seen before. Before long, it grew into a 500-acre park with 35 full-time employees and over 3,000 animals (today the park is under new ownership and is known as the Wild Animal Safari).

Jerry Branches Out

Despite his fathers vision, animal safari’s were never Jerry’s passion, and in the 60’s and 70’s he started to branch out, with the goal of carving out his own path.

In one of his first major ventures, Jerry borrowed money to start his own business, Shakey’s Pizza Parlor restaurants. That, and several subsequent ventures failed, but Jerry eventually found success when he began an oil and gas exploration business in the 1970s.

Mr. Jones eventually sold the gas exploration company in the 1980s for $175 million and used the money to buy the Dallas Cowboys.

Purchase of the Cowboys

Under Jerry’s stewardship, the Cowboys topped Forbes’ list of most valuable NFL franchises and won three Super Bowls. In 2017, Jerry Jones was recognized for his accomplishments with an enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, becoming the 15th owner to earn a bust in Canton. Fittingly, his wife Gene was his presenter.

In 1964, when Jones was a co-captain of a very good Razorbacks football team, an Arkansas trainer, Bill “Groundhog” Ferrell, looked at the player stretched across his table, and said, “Jones, I believe you have the lowest tolerance for pain of any kid we have ever had at this school.”

Jones didn’t argue. Instead he explained:

“Groundhog, I’m different from these other guys. I feel more, I see more, I talk more. I just have a lot more feelings than these other guys.”

Those “feelings” were famously put to the test in 1989, after Jones bought the National Football League’s Dallas Cowboys for $140 million and sacked Tom Landry, the only head coach the franchise had ever had. Other staffers were given pink slips, too, as Jones declared himself the complete overseer of everything — from “socks to jocks” — and made moves that were branded as callous and unfeeling by reporters and talk-show callers.

Jones blames part of the clumsiness on his 100 percent equity purchase of an existing business. “Everything I had done prior to that was pretty much a startup,” he says.

When Jones purchased the team from Harvey Roberts “Bum” Bright, it was already losing $1 million a month. When consolidated with Jerry’s own 11 percent interest on debt pledged by accounts receivable, “I was losing more than $100,000 per day,” Jones recalls.

Hate mail and death threats prompted security measures, and pressure mounted after an atrocious, 1–15 first-season record. And while the new owner had a bed at the Cowboys’ Valley Ranch headquarters in Irving, he rarely slept. It was during those sleepless nights, that he would often hear the words of his father and his hero, swirling around in his head:

“Jerry, you cannot afford to fail now. You are just too much in the public eye.”

Perhaps he also kept in mind what Sam Walton once told him:

“If you are not short-handed, you are overstaffed and will never travel in the stratosphere with your heroes.”

Even today, Jerry (and Gene) get emotional when talking about those early Cowboys years, the initial struggles, the criticism and the doubters. But in the end, the trying times only increased Jerry’s desire to win and to achieve. And that he did!

Jerry vs the NFL

Besides being a marketing guru, Jerry Jones is also a fighter, much in the mold of legendary raiders owner Al Davis, and just like Davis, Jerry had his own battles with the NFL.

One famous incident occurred when he directed the Cowboys to align with a soft drink company different from the one blessed by the NFL, a move which prompted the league to sue Jones for $300 million, and which he answered by countersuing the league for $750 million.

Jones saw the battle “as a kind of states rights versus federal rights argument,” he says. The league “wanted to fundamentally control the franchise, which I did not agree with.” When the lawsuit was finally resolved (in Jerry’s favor), it created a blueprint for how NFL teams operate today.

Other Business Ventures

Jones doesn’t talk much about his other ventures, saying it’s “a quiet time” in the oil patch, and repeatedly stressing that, “I spend 95 percent of my time on football.” However, he does have business interests outside the Cowboys:

The Cowboys own more than 100 Papa John’s franchises in Dallas, Austin, and Waco
In 2018, Jones became the controlling shareholder in Comstock Resources, a publicly traded Texas oil and gas company
Jones is also active in real estate development through his Blue Star Development company (Blue Star refers to the Dallas Cowboys’ logo) which has holdings in places like Allen, Prosper, and Austin

Art Collection

In addition to his passion for business, Mr. Jones is also an avid art collector.

His collection includes Norman Rockwell’s “Coin Toss” as well as paintings by Picasso, Renoir and Matisse among others.

Jerry’s Toys

Like most successful entrepreneurs, Jerry Jones has accumulated a collection of incredible ‘toys’. Here are just a few highlights from his collection:

The Private Yacht — Bravo Eugenia

Length: 109 meters (358 feet)
Crew: 30 members
Delivered: 2018

Jones’s yacht has a helicopter pad, a large tender garage, a spa that includes a sauna, steam room, massage room, plunge pool and rain shower and lower deck equipped with a complete gym and a generous and luxurious beach club.

With naval architecture and engineering done by Lateral, the exterior design by Nuvolari Lenard and the interior design is by Reymond Langton Design, Bravo Eugenia has the stunning low profile and exquisite proportions reminiscent of a sport yacht rather than a superyacht.

The Private Jet

Model: Gulfstream V
Max cruise speed: 508 knots (584 mph)
Service ceiling: 51,000 feet
Seating: up to 19 people

In an episode of HBO series ‘Entourage’, Jerry can be seen boarding his private jet, the Gulfstream V.

The Helicopter

Nickname: King’s Chariot
Model: Airbus H145
Value: $8 million (Airbus is a team sponsor, so perhaps Jerry received a significant discount in return for the publicity)
Passengers: up to 10
Speed: 140kts (160 mph)
Range: 351 nm (403 miles)

Time is money: Jerry uses the helicopter to shave roughly 30 minutes off Jones’ 45-minute drive between the Cowboys’ $1 billion stadium in Arlington, Texas, and their training complex in this distant suburb north of Dallas or 20 minutes off Jones’ flight to his home in Dallas itself.