The Dallas Cowboys and their potential Super Bowl run can do without the distractions along the way. Owner Jerry Jones provided one when his old high school photo made the rounds on the internet recently. And for all the wrong reasons. The image showed a young Jerry Jones in a desegregation protest at North Little Rock High School in Arkansas.

Washington Post reported the controversial news which featured this shocking Jerry Jones image. The 15-year-old could be seen peeking through the crowd as a group of white boys blocked the entry to the school for six black students. This shocked the entire sporting community and brought some negative light on America’s Team, the Dallas Cowboys. However, Jerry provided an explanation.

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Jerry Jones has never hired a black head coach for the Dallas Cowboys in the 33 years since he took over the organization. And pointers like these made their way up to the surface after the image came out. Jerry addressed the scandalous news and blamed his teenage curiosity as the sole contributor to his being there. “That was 65 years ago. And curious kid. Didn’t know at the time the monumental event that was going on,” the 80-year-old billionaire owner said.

Jerry Jones had the surprise support of the sporting community, but not all of it

In his presser, Jerry Jones also said that he is proud of the progress the entire American society has achieved from the time of the 1957 photo.

“I’m sure glad that we’re a long way from that time. And that would remind me to continue to do just everything we can to not have those kinds of things happen,” Jones said. And Jerry had some unusual supporters. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith and Dallas QB Dak Prescott both reiterated the same sentiment when they discussed this news.

However, some popular athletes decided to speak up. Notably, NBA legend LeBron James questioned the media’s reluctance to dig deeper into the matter. The 4x NBA champion asked the media why they weren’t asking him questions about the Jerry Jones controversy as opposed to the grueling presser after the Kyrie Irving suspension situation.

Jerry Jones won three Super Bowl championships in his first seven years of ownership. However, it’s been a dry run since the last ring in 1996. And the hands-on owner doesn’t want the minor hiccups to throw their focus off. He will be putting this episode in the back seat as his 9-3 Dallas Cowboys take on the Houston Texans.

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