Jerry Jones discusses cheerleader settlement, defends Dallas Cowboys’ workplace culture
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones sat at a corner table in a seafood restaurant at The Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach and was finally ready to talk.
He stopped a team public relations employee from intervening midway through, saying, “this is a fair conversation because we haven’t talked yet.”
He also noted that he has spent 30 years with the Cowboys saying, “look at us, we’re the Cowboys. When you go that way, then when you have some things you may not want to look at, you get looked at. That’s good.”
The spotlight has been on Jones and the Cowboys for the last eight weeks due to some unwanted off-field scandals.
There was a Feb. 16 report of a $2.4 million confidential settlement paid to four members of their cheerleading squad after former team vice president Rich Dalrymple was accused of voyeurism in their locker room as they undressed during a 2015 and a paternity suit filed on March 3 against Jones by a 25-year-old congressional aide from North Texas, saying he is her biological father, according to court documents.
Add in the the funeral of his beloved assistant and best friend, Marylyn Love, Jones, taking a break for the NFL Scouting Combine, admits he has been through a lot. “I want to get it all out of the way by the time I’m 80, which is in a few months,” Jones
Jones declined to comment on the paternity suit. He said that was a personal issue, however a hearing on the matter is scheduled for March 31.
He also declined to address a report that Dalrymple also took up-skirt photos of his daughter Charlotte Jones during the 2015 NFL Draft, an allegation that was made public with the voyeurism report.
”I wouldn’t comment on that other that she is my daughter,” Jones said. “I am proud of her. She is my daughter.”
Jones also expressed pride in the workplace culture within the Cowboys organization, despite the questions raised by the cheerleader settlement. He said the team’s workplace culture is among of the best in sports and business.
”We have great systems, we have great HR, we have a high sensitivity,” Jones said. “I’m proud of all our ratios that we have, a lot of the social aspects of our workplace. Extraordinarily proud of it. I have and should have a big awareness of other corporate entities and where they’re in these issues and I recognize how sensitive they are and how important they are. But I have the unique position of knowing about other workplace cultures and other businesses.
“In my mind, we’re really good. Do we have room for improvement?” he said. “Yes, but that’s ongoing. You can have bad times and you can have good times as far as even your grade might go. But we’re always striving to get the best grade.”
Jones still contends that the team thoroughly investigated the voyeurism allegations against Dalrymple and found no wrongdoing.
He reiterated the decision to settle with the cheerleaders was in the best interest of all parties involved.
And while it made the Cowboys look guilty, it was about doing what was best for the big picture in terms of the accusers and Cowboys fans than making a determination of guilt or innocence.
“I’d rather sometimes take a little bump on the overall picture to have been more sensitive to the circumstances behind the issues involved and maybe come out looking like you were learning one way or the other,” Jones said. “I’d rather look like you were trying to keep someone quiet because you looked guilty but you’re not, it is not.< But there’s nothing about that that was an effort to adjudicate guilt or innocence. It was about what was in the best interest of the pecking order starting with alleged victims.”
Jones said he understands the interest in asking questions about the team and the organization. But he said it’s his right to make a decision in what is in their best interest.
”The settlement addressed that,” Jones said. “It was that, to basically not have other dialogue. The public is a constituency. It involved our cheerleaders. It involved our employees. That settlement was in the best interests of everyone involved, including our fans.”
To the end, Jones also defended Dalrymple, his right hand man for the last 32 years before retiring at the end of January, just a couple of weeks before 2015 accusation and settlement was made public.
Jones continues to believe Dalrymple did nothing wrong. He said Dalrymple was the best and had the team ethos down.
“I wish him continued success,” Jones said. “I take it face value, his interest. He left on his own terms. That is important. He left on his own terms. His contributions to our success over the last 30 years are memorable. I hope our paths cross.”
This story was originally published March 28, 2022 at 12:43 PM.
