On Thursday, the Hall of Fame Game was played, and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones got to watch Dallas kick off football in 2017 against the Arizona Cardinals. As if that wasn’t good enough for him, he was also recognized, along with six others, for being a member of the 2017 NFL Hall of Fame class.
On Friday night, Mr. Jones threw an exclusive party of about 1,000, including personal friends, family, players, and celebrities. This bash included a performance by Justin Timberlake, and plenty of young women for Jerry to hang around.
On Saturday night, Jerry Jones was finally officially inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame, where he will forever be recognized as one of the greatest owners in NFL history.
This is such a significant occurrence for the Cowboys franchise, and for football in general, for multiple reasons. As far as the Cowboys go, Jones is the 4th non-player from the franchise to be inducted, following in the footsteps of greats such as Bill Parcells, Tex Schramm, and Tom Landry (one very important and obvious name is missing from this list). As for football, this gives respect not only to those who play the game, but those who put the game together.
Everyone loves greats such as Joe Montana, Barry Sanders, and Night Train Lane, but none of those players would’ve been in the positions they were in without the help of a handful of men in suits. It’s not only about the game, but about those who devote their lives beyond their playing days to it.
Whether you hate Jerry Jones as a person, or hate the Cowboys because you’re jealous of not one, not two, not three, not four, but five Lombardi trophies hanging out at The Star in Frisco, there is no way you can logically deny Jerry’s greatness. During the historic early-90s domination by the Cowboys, Jerry helped to send six players to the Hall: Michael Irvin, Emmitt Smith, Troy Aikman, Charles Haley, Deion Sanders, and Larry Allen. During that same time period, the Cowboys won three Super Bowls. You can accredit that to Jimmy Johnson all you want, but who hired Jimmy Johnson in the first place? Jerry Jones. On the business side of things, Jones was a financial guru. He helped boost the league to a $790 million dollar TV contract with Fox, which has helped to increase the cap space of the NFL almost five times in the past twenty years.
Love him or hate him, Jerry Jones has done more for the league in twenty years than most people have their entire lives. He owns the most valuable team in the entire sports world, maintains Jerry World in Arlington, and has quite a few successful affairs. The man is a living legend in the sports world, and will finally get the credit he deserves, as his bust will forever sit in Canton, Ohio.