Cowboys united with Dallas, police, families of fallen officers

The Dallas Cowboys delivered a statement of unity with the city of Dallas and the Dallas police on the opening day of training camp Saturday.

Mayor Mike Rawlings, police Chief David Brown, two council members along with the families of four of the five officers gunned down in the recent shooting in downtown Dallas walked out on the practice fields at the team’s River Ridge training complex arm in arm with the players, coaches and owner Jerry Jones.

They formed a circle on the field, had a moment of silence for the slain officers. Rawlings, Brown and coach Jason Garrett spoke to the players as part of what they hope will be seminal moment for the city in its effort to move past the horrific tragedy.

“This moment here is overwhelming,” Brown said. “Our profession hasn’t seen a lot of support from communities because of some of the problems we see in communities with police relationships. It is just priceless to have a sports team — a major sports team like the Cowboys — show this kind of support for law enforcement.

“And not taking a position on right or wrong or whether or not something had happened in another city is the right position to take here in Dallas — it’s showing support for the men and women in blue who sacrifice their lives every day to protect our citizens. This is overwhelmingly, really one of the things that — I’ve got chill bumps. It’s overwhelming for me and the families, who are all Cowboy fans.”

Dallas city council members Tiffany Young and Casey Thompson attended along with three other members of the Dallas police department. Thirteen family members from four of the slain officers made the trip to Oxnard. The only family that didn’t come was that of the late Michael Smith.

“I would like to say thank you to the Dallas Cowboys for lifting a city up today,” Rawlings said. “They lifted the city up because they lifted a lot of individuals that have been down up today. Those families, those young kids — to be arm-in-arm with a quarterback, a coach or a big lineman, they’ll remember that for the rest of their lives.

“You know, there are mythic moments in history, in the histories of cities. We went through a terrible one a few weeks ago. This hopefully is a mythic moment to take us to the next level. As I reminded the team today that they’ll always be the Cowboys, but this year, play for Dallas like they’ve never played before.”

The Cowboys believe sports can be used as a vehicle to bring people together from different backgrounds, which is why vice president Charlotte Jones Anderson reached out to the mayor and invited them out to training camp as a symbol of solidarity and unity.

The team also created a helmet decal with the message “arm-in-arm” on top of a star, representing the police and the Cowboys players. The circle around the star represents community and unity.

The team has league approval to wear the decal throughout the preseason and hope to wear it all season.

Brown said the trip was a much-needed getaway for the families of the fallen offices, particularly the children.

“They needed to get away from home and have a distraction and take their minds off their grief,” Brown said.

Brown used the opportunity to encourage the Cowboys players to use their platform to get involved in the discussion on race and policing in the community. He challenged them to be part of the solution by getting involved and not being part of the problem by staying silent.

“I talked about responsibility and playing a role in our society as pro athletes — to have a voice in the conversation about race, to have a voice in the conversation about communities and police departments and police-involved shootings,” Brown said. “You can be part of the problem by being silent or being complicit, or you can be part of the solution by having a voice, by lending your role as a professional athlete to this cause. I think that people need to hear, from all parts of society, a discussion on race.”

Ironically, the Cowboys players were already one step ahead of the situation. Anderson said the players, led by tight end Jason Witten, came up with idea of having the families at training camp and placing the decals on the helmet.

“Immediately after the incident everyone had been trying to figure out how we could help and what we could do,” Anderson said. “Jason Witten called and said we really want to do something, we the players. He said ‘we want to come out arm-and-arm on the first day of practice. We want to invite the families here and do this for them. We want to show we were united.’ It means so much. There is not a better example of unity than in the locker room. There is nothing else like our sport that unifies people. This is the result of that.”

Witten wanted no credit. He said this day and this moment was all about the families of the fallen officers.

“The special thing about our game is that it can bring our community together,” Witten said. “It can lift you up when you are down. A few weeks back when we had the tragedy in Dallas, Mayor Rawlings and Chief Brown used their platform to stand up. Today was all about that. We wanted to honor them, show tribute to the family. And show support. It was special to see the kids who were here, put a smile on their face. We can’t imagine what they have gone through.”

The occasion came full circle for Witten and the family of Patrick Zamarripa, one of the fallen Dallas officers and a graduate of Paschal High School.

Witten and quarterback Tony Romo met Zamirripa last fall at a fan event and gave him tickets to a Cowboys game. He said it was a special to see his mom Valerie, sister Laura Sipolo and brother in law Jesse Reyes, who all flew in from Fort Worth for Saturday’s practice.

“He had a great energy about him. He was a big fan,” Witten said. “I was able to meet his mom and sister today. That was pretty unique. I was only around him for a short period of time. I can only imagine what his family has gone through. It was great to see his family.”

Valerie Zamarripa, who wore a T-shirt with Witten’s No. 82 on it, remembered her son as “a big Cowboys fan since he was a baby.” She said it will be a long time before they truly recover from his death, but called the trip to training camp wonderful experience and much-needed respite.

“It’s amazing, it’s wonderful, it’s something that I would have never imagined in my wildest dreams doing this,” Zamarripa said. “It’s just been a total surprise too, all the attention and love. It’s been so exciting, all the love they’re giving us. [His death] is still fresh, and it’s going to take a long time. But this has taken me away from sitting at home crying.”

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This story was originally published July 30, 2016 at 10:00 PM with the headline "Cowboys united with Dallas, police, families of fallen officers."