Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones found himself in the headlines for all the wrong reasons this week.
Despite his team being one of the NFL’s more surprisingly positive stories from an on-the-field perspective, off the field Jones has now mired it in controversy.
On Wednesday, a photo from 1957 surfaced showing Jones at the “Little Rock Nine Protests” where a mob of white boys tried to block six black students as they tried to enter a freshly integrated public school.
The imagery largely speaks for itself:
In an interview with Dave Maraniss and Sally Jenkins of The Washington Post, Jones offered a blunt response to the uncomfortable visual.
“I don’t know that I or anybody anticipated or had a background of knowing … what was involved,” Jones said.
“It was more a curious thing.”
Later in the back-and-forth with the Washington Post, Jones was pressed on why he didn’t do more to help the black students who were being blocked and had racial slurs yelled at them.
“I’ll be very candid with you, I’ve often asked: ‘Why didn’t you do more?” Jones admitted.
“’Why didn’t you get up and have them come up on the bus and sit rather than standing back there? Why didn’t you do more?’”
But he never actually answered the question.
It will be interesting to see if there are any serious ramifications for Jones as a result of this photo, or if it will simply be swept under the rug with the excuse being that it was a different time.
This has been a crazy year for the Cowboys. Between one of their cheerleaders having her wild photos go viral, Ezekiel Elliot and his girlfriend’s crazy Halloween costumes causing a stir and that whole Colin Kaepernick brouhaha – it has been one thing after another.
But obviously the controversy surrounding Jones is on another level.
What a week for Spencer Rattler. https://t.co/vFVgnk8EiM
— Game 7 (@game7__) November 23, 2022
Will the NFL, Jones and the Cowboys ultimately be held to account?
Or will everyone just move on over the next few days and never speak of this incident again?
One way or another, an answer will emerge soon enough.
Related: Warriors’ Current View On Draymond Green’s ‘Leadership’ Status
A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
