FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had an old friend drop by on the final day of preparations for the NFL draft: former President Bill Clinton.
The pair with deep Arkansas roots shared a few thoughts and laughs with reporters at the Cowboys’ annual pre-draft news conference Wednesday.
A reporter was in the middle of a question when Jones looked through the glass wall of the media interview room at club headquarters and saw Clinton coming into the building.
After a first interruption, the reporter tried to finish the question as Clinton came through a side door into the interview room. Jones gave everyone in the room a brief scare as he stumbled trying to get off the stage and shake hands with Clinton.
Once Jones steadied himself and joined Clinton, the focus was squarely on the 42nd U.S. president and the man who also carries the titles of president and general manager of the Cowboys.
“He’s been a wonderful, not only president, but a friend over the years,” said Jones, who was born in Los Angeles but was an oil and natural gas wildcatter in Arkansas when he bought the Cowboys in 1989. “And I’m really happy to have you here today.”
A smiling Clinton responded with, “Have a good draft day,” before each had a story to tell.
One of the pictures on the wall of the media interview room is of Clinton greeting the Cowboys at the White House following one of their three Super Bowl victories in the 1990s. At that point, Jones was only a few years removed from leaving Arkansas.
“And when I said hello to him on a personal basis, he listed, three-deep, every player … on the Arkansas Razorback national championship team,” said Jones, who played for that 1964 team. “He was a young guy that was following the Hogs feverishly, mainly over the radio. So he’s a good man to have as a fan.”
Clinton, who was born in Hope, Arkansas, and at 79 is four years younger than Jones, then shared some of that old knowledge.
“Tell ’em again the position you played,” Clinton said.
“Well, I was a guard. I was a pulling guard,” Jones answered.
“And how much did you weigh?” Clinton asked.
“About 185 pounds,” Jones responded.
“And a couple of years before him we had a guard named Wayne Harris who weighed the same thing Jerry did, and he made first-team All-America,” Clinton said. “They were great guards, and it’s a different world now.”
When Jones said he would hate to be a pulling guard in today’s NFL, with offensive linemen averaging more than 300 pounds, Clinton retorted, “Yeah, you’d be the late Jerry Jones.”
Clinton and Jones left the room, and the news conference continued for another 25 minutes without the omnipresent Cowboys owner. The stage belonged to executive vice president of personnel Stephen Jones, coach Brian Schottenheimer and scouting director Will McClay.
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