Jerral "Jerry" Wayne Jones was born October 13, 1942, in Los Angeles, California. His family moved to North Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas, when he was three years old.
Jones attended the University of Arkansas on a football scholarship and was a part of the Razorback football team named national champion by the Football Writers Association of America in 1964. He graduated in 1965 with a degree in business and earned a Master's degree from the University of Arkansas in 1970.
Jones sold insurance for his father's company in Missouri while in college before starting his own oil and gas venture in 1971. In 1989 he bought the Dallas Cowboys and led the team to multiple Super Bowl victories.
In 1997 Jones began the tradition of kicking off the Salvation Army's Red Kettle Campaign during the Dallas Cowboys halftime show on Thanksgiving Day. Jones was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame in 2010.
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© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#2: Jerry Jones as a young boy
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#3: Jerry Jones's father's grocery store, Pat's Super Market, in North Little Rock, Arkansas
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#4: Jerry Jones football portrait
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#5: Jerry Jones, Razorback football photo, University of Arkansas
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#6: Jerry Jones with Gene Chambers (Jones) at University of Arkansas homecoming
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#7: Jerry Jones and Gene Chambers Jones on their wedding day, February 1962
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
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#8: Jerry Jones with his wife, Gene, and Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa, in the Texas Stadium owners' suite during the Dallas Cowboy's game against the Washington Redskins; October 24, 1999
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#9: Jerry Jones with former Dallas Cowboys' wide receiver, "Playmaker" Michael Irvin, at the Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony; Canton, Ohio, August 2007
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#10: Still frame from Pryor Center video interview with Jerry Jones at the Dallas Cowboys corporate office; Valley Ranch, Texas, 2010
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#11: Still frame from Pryor Center video interview with Jerry Jones at the Dallas Cowboys corporate office; Valley Ranch, Texas, 2010
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#12: Still frame from Pryor Center video interview with Jerry Jones at the Dallas Cowboys corporate office; Valley Ranch, Texas, 2010
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#13: Still frame from Pryor Center video interview with Jerry Jones at the Dallas Cowboys corporate office; Valley Ranch, Texas, 2010
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
