When Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and coach Jimmy Johnson went through their “little transition” in 1994, famously parting ways after consecutive Super Bowl wins and a whirlwind turnaround for the league’s laughingstock, the football world waited for the two men to patch things up and recognize the other’s contributions to the rebirth of the Dallas dynasty they created.
Johnson had to wait 27 years for Jones to tell him he would at long last make the franchise’s Ring of Honor.
On Saturday night in Canton as he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Johnson got his thank you to Jones out of the way 35 seconds after stepping to the mic.
“I guess you’re wanting to know what I’m going to say about Jerry Jones,” the 78-year-old Johnson said, after his opening remarks touched on the relationships that the sport tends to foster.
The crowd at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium applauded, laughed, got quiet again… and maybe even braced themselves just a little for what might come next.
“Well… Jerry?” Johnson stalled before launching into a story.
But as he started, emotion seemed to get the best of him as he made an early stumble.
“You told me. You said, ‘We’re going to make sports history,’ before we ever bought the Cowboys–”
Quickly realizing he misspoke, Johnson poke a little fun at his goof.
“–before you bought the Cowboys, because I didn’t pay a damn cent!”
The moment broke the tension beautifully, if accidentally. The crowd’s easy laughter allowed the coach to snap back into a more relaxed storyteller mode.
“And you know what? We. We did make sports history. But not only for the Dallas Cowboys, but for the NFL. To go from the worst team in the league two years in a row to winning back-to-back Super Bowls and building a heck of a football team, we did it. And let me tell you, from the bottom of my heart, thank you, Jerry. Thank you for giving me the opportunity.”
Keeping himself on the evening’s tight schedule for speeches, Johnson chose not to list everyone that made his legendary career possible, but he emphasized that football success is always a group project. He recalled being enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame thanks to great assistant coaches and players. He painted his inclusion in the Broadcasting Hall of Fame as inevitable only because of his producers and the other legends he shares the TV desk with.
Honor of a lifetime to present Coach into football immortality, the Pro Football Hall of Fame. pic.twitter.com/ZVTWodbIyS
— Troy Aikman (@TroyAikman) August 8, 2021
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Johnson’s football life has certainly been filled with some of the best names in the business at every level. But the man knows a thing or two about identifying talent and bringing out the best in those around him, to be sure.
“Looking back, I went and counted them up,” Johnson shared. “I coached, recruited, or drafted 13 players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame… And on top of that, I coached or broadcasted with 14 more Hall of Famers. I think I know what one looks like.”
But still pulling for the greatness of others to be fully realized, Johnson used even that humble brag to tout the Canton credentials of two former stars who have yet to get the call.
“Zach Thomas belongs up here. Darren Woodson belongs up here.”
Ever the coach, always shooting for the next plateau, the next accomplishment, the next success, the next win.
“I never really dreamed. I wasn’t a dreamer. You know, dreaming is hoping. I believed. I really believed. People say, ‘What made you think, when you were at Miami, you were going to take these inner-city kids and they were going to get an education? What made you say that you were going to get them a college degree?’ Because that’s what I talked about. I believed they were. And 90 percent of them got their college degree. That’s what I was proud of. ‘What made you think you were going to win a Super Bowl when you were 1-15?’ I didn’t dream about it; I believed that we were going to win a Super Bowl. When you believe it, I think it has something with the way you act and how you deal with people: your expectation, and you put expectations on them. Treat a person as he is, he’s going to stay as he is. Treat a person as if he were what he could be or should be, he’ll become what he could be and should be. I didn’t dream. I believed we were going to do it.”
But Johnson admitted that his unfailing belief came at a cost. His two adult sons both played football growing up; Johnson revealed he “never saw them play a down. And that’s a shame.”
In closing his remarks, Johnson referenced an idea that Wayne Huizenga once shared with him. The late Dolphins owner called it QTL.
“Quality Time Left. Think about that. I’m 78 years old, and I think about QTL all the time,” Johnson explained. “The people that you love, like my family right over there, appreciate those people. Because there will come a day you’re not going to be able to appreciate them because you’re not going to be around.”
Johnson and Jones have finally gotten back to appreciating each other, too. Seeing them together this week in Canton and knowing they’ll be together once again when Johnson’s name is hung in the palace that Jones built, maybe it’s a new chapter for the two men whose legacies will always be intertwined. Maybe now it’s destined that they’ll ride off into the sunset as friends once again, wearing their matching gold jackets.
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