Anything for Coach

Jones chokes up, then coughs up $100,000

Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys and former Arkansas athlete, left, speaks alongside Frank Broyles, former coach and athletics director at the University of Arkansas, Friday, June 6, 2014, during the Frank and Barbara Broyles Foundation Caregivers United inaugural benefit golf scramble at Paradise Valley Golf andÊAthletic Club in Fayetteville.
Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys and former Arkansas athlete, left, speaks alongside Frank Broyles, former coach and athletics director at the University of Arkansas, Friday, June 6, 2014, during the Frank and Barbara Broyles Foundation Caregivers United inaugural benefit golf scramble at Paradise Valley Golf andÊAthletic Club in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones became emotional Friday while talking about Frank Broyles, his coach at Arkansas and mentor for more than 50 years.

Jones choked up and fought back tears as he stood next to Broyles and spoke to a crowd of family members and friends gathered for a golf tournament held in Broyles' honor.

Broyles banquet

WHAT A celebration of Frank Broyles, the former Arkansas coach and athletic director.

WHEN 6 tonight

WHERE John Q. Hammons Center, Rogers

NOTEWORTHY Broyles is retiring from the Razorback Foundation at the end of June. … Friday’s golf tournament and tonight’s banquet are fundraisers for the Frank and Barbara Broyles Foundation CareGivers United, which supports those who provide care for people with Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia.

"I never dreamed when he was talking to us about the fourth quarter the night before a ballgame in Eureka Springs, when he had the team up there, that we would be standing here right now in 2014 and he's coaching us on how to be in life in the fourth quarter," Jones said. "How to handle the stuff that comes along in life in the fourth quarter.

"And, boy, did he coach us up."

The golf tournament and a banquet tonight are raising funds for the Frank and Barbara Broyles Foundation CareGivers United, which provides support for families dealing with Alzheimer's disease. Jones announced a $100,000 donation for the Broyles Foundation on Friday, which prompted Broyles to toss his hat into the air in celebration.

"You showed us how to care-give," Jones told Broyles in front of the crowd. "You showed us what sticking and staying and loving is all about."

Jones, a senior guard on Arkansas' 1964 team that finished 11-0 and won a share of the national championship, said he never would have bought the Cowboys if not for Broyles.

"I think that's fair," Jones said. "Somebody might say, 'Well, that's a reach.' No."

Jones said Broyles, the Razorbacks' coach in 1958-1976 and athletic director in 1973-2007, inspired him to want to be involved in sports at a high level such as being the owner of an NFL team.

"He also very candidly gave me a feeling that I could do it," Jones said. "That I could get it done."

Jones, 71, bought the Cowboys on Feb. 25, 1989, for $140 million. Last year Forbes magazine valued the Cowboys at $2.3 billion, the highest among NFL teams.

"Even after I made the decision to buy the Cowboys, I was very apprehensive," Jones said. "I was scared, if you will. How we would make it work? How we might try to do it not only on the field, but off the field."

Jones said Broyles became his role model for how to run the Cowboys.

"I look at the things he's done, the salesman he is, the organizer, the way he put things together up here, the building programs, all of that," Jones said. "There are a lot of parallel decisions I make every day."

Jones said he often has sought Broyles' counsel before making major decisions in his life, especially those involving the Cowboys.

"I've always included him in my thinking," Jones said. "He's been a great friend."

Broyles said Jones called him when he was getting ready to buy the Cowboys.

"I said, 'Are you going to stay in the oil business?' " Broyles said. "He said, 'What do you mean?' I said, 'If you're going to buy the Cowboys and run the oil business, that would be a big gamble. But if you buy the Cowboys, sell the oil business and go run the Cowboys, it would be a great thing for you.'

"That's what he did."

Jones said he has tried to emulate Broyles' vision for the future and admired the way he built a total athletic program at Arkansas to help pull fans together behind the Razorbacks.

"His influence with what we're doing here at the university is unmatched in the rest of the country," Jones said. "It was a combination of what he did in the traditional view as a coach, but also his vision. He was ahead of his time. He was a forward-thinker in his vision for Arkansas as an athletic program just as he was as a coach putting together a game plan."

Broyles said he appreciated Jones' commitment in attending Friday's event after the landing of his plane in Northwest Arkansas was delayed by about two hours because of inclement weather.

"He's been a great national success, but he hasn't forgotten his ties to the Razorbacks," Broyles said. "That makes us very proud."

Broyles said he was "blown away" by Jones' $100,000 donation.

"He's a giver and not a taker," Broyles said.

Betsy Broyles Arnold, Broyles' daughter and president of the Broyles Foundation, said the family didn't know about Jones' donation until he announced it.

"We just all started crying," she said. "That meant a whole lot to Dad and the whole family."

Broyles, 89, is retiring from the Razorback Foundation at the end of June after retiring as athletic director in December 2007, but Jones said Broyles always will have a role in promoting Arkansas and the Razorbacks.

"Men like Coach Broyles don't go away," Jones said. "He's just too influential."

Sports on 06/07/2014

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