LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KARK) – Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones faced questions over a 65-year-old photo that captured him during the civil rights movement outside a high school.
Jones, an Arkansas native, was pictured in a group of white students appearing to block a group of Black students into North Little Rock High School back in 1957.
The picture was taken by an Associated Press photojournalist in the same year that federal troops were being deployed to Little Rock Central High School.
Jones was a teenager and a sophomore at NLRHS.
The Washington Post published a story Wednesday with the photo, prompting questions from reporters after Jones’ Cowboys won against the New York Giants on Thanksgiving.
“Look, look, that was 65 years ago, and I had no idea when I walked up there, what we were doing,” Jones, now 80, explained. “That was, gosh, 65 years ago, a curious kid.”
Jones said he showed up to see what was going on, not to participate in the growing mob.
“I didn’t know at the time the monumental event, really, that was going on and I’m sure glad that we’re a long way from that,” Jones said. “Nobody there had any idea frankly what was going to take place.”
The Cowboys are one of seven NFL teams that have not had a Black head coach, according to ESPN. Jones has complied with the Rooney Rule, meaning his team has interviewed minority candidates. In 2020, before hiring now-head coach Mike McCarthy, Jones interviewed Marvin Lewis, the former head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, ESPN reports.
Jones has defended his hiring decisions saying they’re made for business reasons, not race.