The Cowboys remain Jerry's world, but Stephen Jones will engineer 'a different path'

PHOENIX -- The call came in the fall of 1988, when he was a reservoir engineer fresh out of college, living in a one-bedroom apartment in Fort Smith, Ark. He spent his days behind the wheel of his Ford pickup, crisscrossing the South, charting oil reserves and piling up profits for his father's company. The job fit. "Probably my math mind," he says. If he looked hard enough, he could see the next 30 years. He liked that. Football? He was convinced it was behind him, and he was fine with that. He'd lived his dream. He played at Arkansas, the quarterback recruit who ended up toiling on special teams, starting just one game -- his last -- and only then because the Razorbacks' star safety was popped for steroids a few days before Oklahoma smacked them in the Orange Bowl. A few months later, Dad called and said he wanted to buy the Dallas Cowboys. "I know you're starting to find your way in the oil business," Jerry Jones told his son, "but what do you think about coming to Dallas and learning the football business with me?" "I've already started my car," Stephen Jones blurted out. Tucked into a back booth at McArthur's, the sleek restaurant that sits inside the Arizona Biltmore,...

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7317883/2026/08/27/cowboys-jerry-stephen-jones-future-nfl/