OXNARD, Calif. – These are the times Stephen Jones enjoys most.
The practice field is empty, except for Jones, his son, John Stephen, 7, and two nephews. Jones, the Cowboys' executive vice president, is the quarterback. The boys run around the field as if it's the Super Bowl, and the quarterback loves it.
"That's my last respite," Jones said. "It's just a getaway. You relax. You don't have to think about anything else."
Soon, however, Jones will be working the phones in his makeshift office at the Marriott Residence Inn. Normally, it's a bedroom, as evidenced by the headboard behind the desk. Stacks of paper are in neat piles. There's a laptop and the same telephone he uses at Valley Ranch.
In front of Jones is nothing but lists. He has five index cards filled with notes in a black case. Another notebook with a Cowboys logo on the front is filled with lists, as is a piece of team stationery.
The to-do lists range from player personnel to the family's real estate business, to the team's in-house attorney, to the new stadium being built in Arlington and the current one in Irving and to marketing and sales.
"If I don't write things down, I'd forget," Jones said.
Stephen Jones' title is a sign of just how much he does for the team: executive vice president/chief operating officer/director of player personnel/president of Texas Stadium.
His day begins at 6 a.m. and ends whenever it ends. His cellphone goes off hundreds of times a day. E-mails overload his computer. Those face-to-face meetings are now conference calls while he is in Oxnard.
"Stephen has the ability to multitask," said Jerry Jones, his father and owner and general manager of the Cowboys. "It's one of his biggest skills. He can cover a lot of ground. He was educated as a chemical engineer (Arkansas, Class of 1988), and when I was in college, not only was I never in the chemical engineer building, I'd walk blocks around it to make sure I'd never stumble in it."
Role lost in shadow
Stephen's work often receives little notice because of the super-sized personality of his father, the players that won three Super Bowls in the 1990s and the aura that surrounds coach Bill Parcells.
Since the Joneses purchased the Cowboys in 1989, Stephen has played an important role, first in marketing and later in personnel. He oversees the operations of the Cowboys and Texas Stadium while managing the new stadium project.
The stadium project is the most complex responsibility, from the financing to the construction to the marketing. He can now see the finished product even though the doors aren't scheduled to open until 2009.
As the footprint of the stadium grows into a steel skeleton, Jones will spend many hours in Arlington.
"I wouldn't say my role has changed, I'd say the projects have changed," he said. "This stadium project is huge, probably the biggest one we've ever done. We paid $150 million for the stadium and the club, and now we're involved in something that could reach $1 billion."
Just as in 1989, Jerry needed Stephen.
"Stephen's not just been in preseason games, he's been in playoff games and a few Super Bowls," Jerry said. "So while he's very young, he's got a lot of experience and it's not all been good. But that's what helps make a good decision-maker."
Stephen, who was an all-state quarterback at Catholic High School in Little Rock, Ark., was 24 when his father purchased the Cowboys on Feb. 25, 1989, and with it came whispers that he was in the position solely because of his name.
"He's very calm under pressure, and we were in situations that were tense," said Dick Cass, president of the Baltimore Ravens and former Jones family attorney. "I think he makes Jerry's life a lot easier by having someone there with the critical decisions that he can trust, whether you're talking the signing of Deion Sanders or challenging the NFL's business practices."
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| IRWIN THOMPSON / DMN Stephen Jones (center) wears many hats for the Dallas Cowboys. |
In recent years, he has helped get the Cowboys out of salary-cap trouble left over from the Super Bowl run and put them in a position where they can pay megamillion-dollar bonuses to free agents such as Anthony Henry and Terrell Owens while re-signing Pro Bowlers such as Jason Witten and Roy Williams before they became free agents.
"I hate to say it like this, but I don't think he takes himself too seriously," said agent Jimmy Sexton, who represents six Cowboys players and Parcells. "He always says to me, 'Jimmy, this isn't too hard. We should be able to figure this out.' He tries to find solutions to make a deal."
While he can walk with agents and players and personnel men, Jones also can keep pace with politicians and billionaire owners, something New England Patriots president Jonathan Kraft, one of Stephen's best friends in the league, said is rare in the NFL.
"Stephen is so full of life, so charismatic," Kraft said. "Clearly, he's a Jones. People enjoy being around him. He's not a negative person. He doesn't speak ill. He's very smart, and he doesn't have to let you know he's very smart. He's down to earth."
A good listener
From Cass to Kraft to others who have worked with Jones presently or in the past, they say his best quality is his ability to listen. In some ways, he is viewed as a keeper of the peace between his father and Parcells, but he said they do not disagree often.
"A lot of times when you've got strong personalities and you feel very strongly about something, which both men do at times, sometimes you can say things the wrong way where it offends somebody," Stephen said. "I get the benefit of listening to both of them, then I can without offending either one of them say, 'This is where ownership is coming from, Bill, tell me where I'm missing something.'
"Or if I've heard Bill talk, I can go to Jerry and say, 'Have you ever thought the coach may think this about a player?' So you have a calm atmosphere where you can bounce things off each other."
Contractual and personnel disagreements led to Parcells' departure from New England, but the coach has nothing but good things to say about Stephen.
"We have good dialogue," Parcells said. "Philosophically, we exchange ideas. I wouldn't say we've had too many major disagreements about anything. We talk it over pretty good. I enjoy that part of it. I've enjoyed getting to know him and have a good personal feeling for him separate from football."
After one practice last week, Stephen spent time with fans, signing notebooks, hats, footballs and helmets. He posed for pictures with a smile for everyone, even with all the work ahead of him.
One day he will be the face of the franchise, but he is content to keep crossing off things on those lists.
"I know all the work that has to be done and all the things I need to do," Stephen said. "And I know ultimately my day will come when that role will change. I'm not in any hurry for that to happen because I enjoy working so much with Jerry. I feel fortunate to get to work with my father."
Titles: Executive vice president, chief operating officer, director of player personnel, president of Texas Stadium
Age: 42
Birthplace: Little Rock, Ark.
Family: Wife Karen; children Jessica, Jordan, Caroline, John Stephen.
Education: Chemical engineering degree from Arkansas.
Playing career: Was an all-state quarterback at Catholic High School in Little Rock. ... Played linebacker and excelled on special teams playing for Lou Holtz and Ken Hatfield at Arkansas.
Notable: Actively involved with Young Presidents' Organization. ... Serves on board of directors for Cotton Bowl Athletic Association, Southwestern Bell, SMU Athletic Forum, Episcopal School of Dallas and Circle Ten Council of the Boy Scouts of America.
Stephen Jones on ...
Working with his father: I've got people all the time we do business with, and you talk to them and they don't have their fathers around anymore. The first thing they always say is they'd give it all up to have their father back. My father and I are only 21 years apart. The older you get, that seems a whole lot less.
His job: I can't imagine doing anything else because I love this so much. You can pinch yourself sometimes when you think this is actually a job. It's a lot of work, but it's so much fun. Look at fantasy football and people living and breathing that during the season, but that's what we get to do for a living.
The new stadium: I know when it's all said and done, we're going to love it and be so glad we put all the energy that goes into it, and it's going to be even better than we imagine. We're getting to the point now where we know what the thing is going to look like, and now it's about coming in at what we think it's going to cost."
E-mail tarcher@dallasnews.com
