Jerry Jones ‘strapped on fear of failure’ before buying Cowboys

August 6, 2017 by admin
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It took several failed business opportunities for Jerry Jones to have enough guts to “keep on keeping on.”

Though the Cowboys were a losing team in dire financial straits, Jones decided to “put up or shut up” and buy the team. He has sinced turned them into one of the most profitable sports teams in the world, and Jones was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday.

“I strapped on that fear of failure. For someone like me, a fear of ‘business’ heights was like stringing a tight rope from the Empire State Building to the next tallest building in New York and then starting your ass off on that tight rope,” Jones said during Saturday’s speech at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. “You have to make it work.”

When Jones woke up one morning while on a fishing trip, he noticed in a newspaper that the Cowboys were for sale.

Jones bought the Cowboys in 1989 for $140 million and assumed the roles of president and general manager. The Cowboys had been losing about $1 million per month. The team’s financial situation then is why Jones decided to be owner, president and general manager and he has turned the Cowboys into a team that is now the NFL’s most valuable at $4.2 billion.

Through several shrewd moves, he helped build a team that won three Super Bowls in the 1990s. He thanked former Cowboys coach Tom Landry and general manager Tex Schramm for establishing the foundation on which he was able to build the team.

Jones made the unpopular decision of replacing Landry with former college teammate Jimmy Johnson, who had won a national championship at the University of Miami.

His first big move was selecting quarterback Troy Aikman with the No. 1 overall pick of the 1989 NFL Draft. He then fleeced the Vikings by sending running back Herschel Walker to Minnesota in exchange for a wealth of draft picks that resulted in the selections of running back Emmitt Smith, wide receiver Alvin Harper and safety Darren Woodson, among others.

Jones used first-round picks in 1991 and 1992 on Super Bowl starters Russell Maryland and Robert Jones, respectively. A second-round pick in the 1994 draft was used on future Hall of Fame guard Larry Allen. He also signed future Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders to a five-year contract in 1995 and the Cowboys won their third Super Bowl in four seasons.

“Winning the Super Bowl will always be special. Football changes lives like that,” Jones said. “A year later we did it again and certainly a dynasty was born.”

Jones was presented by his wife, Gene, who was one of two wives to present their husbands on Saturday. The other was Brenda Warner, the wife of former Rams and Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner. Gene Jones and Brenda Warner are the third and fourth women to present their husbands for induction, joining Kim Singletary (Mike Singletary, 1998) and Deanna Favre (Brett Favre, 2016).

“Gene, you kept me between the rails when I didn’t really have the strength to get to the middle,” Jones said to his wife. “You’re my presenter because you’ve always presented this family in a loving and caring light that only you can provide.”

Jones’ experience as a college player at Arkansas made him want to pursue a career in football. He thought about coaching, but figured there was not much money in coaching.