{"id":28803,"date":"2025-02-26T03:00:45","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T03:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=28803"},"modified":"2025-02-26T03:00:45","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T03:00:45","slug":"cowboys-quietly-celebrating-momentous-jerry-jones-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=28803","title":{"rendered":"Cowboys Quietly &#8216;Celebrating&#8217; Momentous Jerry Jones Anniversary.."},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"m-detail-header--dek\">It was 36 years ago when brash Arkansas oil man Jerry Jones rode into Dallas, bought the Cowboys and fired Tom Landry on a surreal night at Valley Ranch.<\/div>\n<div class=\"m-detail-header--flexbox\">\n<div class=\"m-detail-header--meta\">\n<div class=\"m-description--list\">\n<p>FRISCO &#8211; Valley Ranch is long gone. So too Tom Landry. And, for that matter, also any on-field success associated with the franchise.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, even 36 years later, the reverberations of what transpired on February 25, 1989 can still be felt by the\u00a0Dallas Cowboys. It remains one of the biggest moments in the history of America&#8217;s Team:<\/p>\n<div class=\"m-detail--body-item m-detail--body-item-inline\">\n<figure class=\"l-inline tml-image m-detail--tml-image--inline\"><picture class=\"is-loaded\"><source srcset=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/.image\/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_380\/MjEzMDg3MTY3MjgxMzc0NzI5\/cowboys---jerry-jones-1989.webp 380w, https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/.image\/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_620\/MjEzMDg3MTY3MjgxMzc0NzI5\/cowboys---jerry-jones-1989.webp 620w, https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/.image\/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_700\/MjEzMDg3MTY3MjgxMzc0NzI5\/cowboys---jerry-jones-1989.webp 700w\" type=\"image\/webp\" sizes=\"(min-width: 1240px) 700px, (min-width: 675px) 620px, calc(100vw - 40px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/.image\/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_380\/MjEzMDg3MTY3MjgxMzc0NzI5\/cowboys---jerry-jones-1989.jpg 380w, https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/.image\/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_620\/MjEzMDg3MTY3MjgxMzc0NzI5\/cowboys---jerry-jones-1989.jpg 620w, https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/.image\/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_700\/MjEzMDg3MTY3MjgxMzc0NzI5\/cowboys---jerry-jones-1989.jpg 700w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 1240px) 700px, (min-width: 675px) 620px, calc(100vw - 40px)\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"m-detail--tml-image m-image\" src=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/.image\/t_share\/MjEzMDg3MTY3MjgxMzc0NzI5\/cowboys---jerry-jones-1989.jpg\" srcset=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"Cowboys - Jerry Jones 1989\" width=\"1296\" height=\"729\" data-src=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/.image\/c_limit%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_700\/MjEzMDg3MTY3MjgxMzc0NzI5\/cowboys---jerry-jones-1989.jpg\" \/><\/picture>\n<div class=\"m-detail--tml-image-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"m-detail--tml-image-container\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-0\">\n<div class=\"m-in-content-ad not-size-a not-size-b not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-0\" data-zone-count=\"4\">\n<div id=\"_adr_abp_container_3\" class=\"_adr_abp_container\" data-section=\"7db9a01170294858359598238868b29f\" data-packetid=\"00000001-a7c1771e-0171-4267-bb33-0794497b7458\" data-render-time=\"1740537609300\">\n<div>AD<\/div>\n<p><iframe id=\"iframe-ad-container-7db9a01170294858359598238868b29f\" src=\"https:\/\/delivery.adrecover.com\/recover.html?siteId=46584&amp;dataDogLoggingEnabled=false&amp;dataDogLoggingVersion=1\" name=\"7db9a01170294858359598238868b29f\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" sandbox=\"allow-forms allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The night Jerry Jones bought the Cowboys, and immediately replaced the legendary Landry with college coach Jimmy Johnson.<\/p>\n<p>At the time, Jerry was 46. Today, in the middle of an almost 30-year\u00a0Super Bowl\u00a0drought, he is 82.<\/p>\n<p>He paid $140 million for the team and Texas Stadium. Last year Forbes estimated the value of the Cowboys at $10 billion. Pretty decent ROI for a deal that almost didn&#8217;t happen.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-1\">\n<div class=\"m-in-content-ad not-size-a not-size-b not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-1\" data-zone-count=\"4\"><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Jones loves to revisit the immense risk he took in buying the failing franchise from previous owner Bum Bright.<\/p>\n<p>In 1988 the Cowboys went 3-13. There was growing criticism that the modern\u00a0NFL\u00a0game had passed Landry by. And the business of America&#8217;s Team was in shambles, reportedly losing $1 million per month.<\/p>\n<p>Dallas TV station NBC 5 broke the news, and a\u00a0<em>Dallas Morning News<\/em>\u00a0photo of\u00a0Jones and Johnson dining at popular Tex-Mex restaurant Mia&#8217;s\u00a0went viral before &#8220;viral&#8221; was a thing.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-2\">\n<div id=\"_adr_abp_container_6\" class=\"_adr_abp_container\" data-section=\"a949c511f11a84c1ee0b5e40ffd4273a\" data-packetid=\"00000001-a7c1771e-0171-4267-bb33-0794497b7458\" data-render-time=\"1740537609311\">\n<div>AD<\/div>\n<p><iframe id=\"iframe-ad-container-a949c511f11a84c1ee0b5e40ffd4273a\" src=\"https:\/\/delivery.adrecover.com\/recover.html?siteId=46584&amp;dataDogLoggingEnabled=false&amp;dataDogLoggingVersion=1\" name=\"a949c511f11a84c1ee0b5e40ffd4273a\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" sandbox=\"allow-forms allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div class=\"m-in-content-ad not-size-a not-size-b not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-2\" data-zone-count=\"4\"><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The Saturday night press conference was broadcast live on every DFW TV station, and it still feels surreal to this day.<\/p>\n<p>Jones claims that for years he broke out in a cold sweat when revisiting memories of that night when he introduced himself to the world as being an owner who would be in charge of everything from &#8220;socks to jocks.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve talked to doctors about it,\u201d Jones said before his 2017 induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. \u201cThey all said it was normal because I was suffering from tremendous stress in those days. It\u2019s my own version of post-traumatic stress syndrome \u2026 and that I can talk about it now without tearing up shows how far I\u2019ve come.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"m-in-content-ad-row l-inline mm-in-content-ad-row--in-content not-size-a not-size-b not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-3\">\n<div class=\"m-in-content-ad not-size-a not-size-b not-size-d\" data-ad-group=\"in_content-3\" data-zone-count=\"4\"><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>After a sobering 1-15 introduction to the NFL, the Cowboys quickly won three Super Bowls in four years and were the league&#8217;s team of the 1990s. But since winning Super Bowl XXX after the 1995 season, they have won only five playoff games and Jerry, it&#8217;s safe to say, isn&#8217;t quite as popular.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It was 36 years ago when brash Arkansas oil man Jerry Jones rode into Dallas, bought the Cowboys and fired Tom Landry on a surreal night at&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cowboys Quietly &#039;Celebrating&#039; Momentous Jerry Jones Anniversary.. - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=28803\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cowboys Quietly &#039;Celebrating&#039; 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