LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (kark) – Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones faced questions over a photo capturing him in a group of white students who appeared to block a group of black students at North Little Rock High School in 1957.
The photograph was taken by an Associated Press photojournalist the same year federal troops were deployed to Little Rock Central High School.
Jones, a native of Arkansas, was a teenager and a sophomore at North Little Rock High School.
the washington post posted a story on Wednesday with the photo, prompting questions from reporters after Jones’ Cowboys won against the New York Giants on Thanksgiving.
“Look, that was 65 years ago, and when I got there I had no idea what we were doing,” said Jones, now 80. “That was, my God, 65 years ago, a curious child.”
Jones said she showed up to see what was going on, not to participate in the growing crowd.
“I didn’t know at the time that the monumental event was happening, really, and I’m very glad that we’re a long way from that,” Jones said. “No one had any idea, frankly, what was going to happen.”
The Cowboys are one of seven NFL teams that have not had a black head coach, according to ESPN
. Jones has followed Rooney’s rule, which means 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 by saying they were made for business reasons, not race.
