ARLINGTON, Texas — Wake-up calls aren’t needed at the home of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. Not on the day before Thanksgiving. Not when the Salvation Army needs his help.
By the time the phone rang Wednesday around 5 a.m., “he was already up, he was already moving,” said the caller, his daughter Charlotte Anderson.
Awake at 3 a.m., Jones went to work while the rest of Dallas slept. Well before dawn, Jones’ shiny black Lincoln Town Car was already racing toward Cowboys Stadium, the $1.2 billion Texas Taj Mahal that is home to America’s Team and the world’s largest video screens.
By 6 a.m., 45 minutes of cardiovascular exercise under his belt and a Super Bowl ring on his finger, Jones was ready to peddle the Salvation Army to news anchors from Grand Rapids, Mich., to Greensboro, N.C.
Anderson, the Cowboys’ executive vice president and Jones’ only daughter, was on the sidelines, making sure every interview was glitchfree.
To be helpful, the charity had compiled some talking points - “Fast Facts” and “Suggested Key Messages.” But Jones didn’t need them.He’s got most of the details committed to memory.
For 14 seasons, win or lose, Jones and his family have used the nation’s most valuable sports franchise to promote America’s second largest nonprofit group.
The effort goes into overdrive as the end-of-year holidays near.
“Thanksgiving is all about the Salvation Army and giving to others. And the Salvation Army does it best,” says Jones’ wife, Gene, who serves on the charity’s national advisory board.
The Cowboys, who traditionally play on Thanksgiving, turn their halftime show into a giant Salvation Army commercial, complete with fireworks, flames, famous musical artists, children, cheerleaders and red kettles as big as hot tubs.
Thursday’s show included a nationally televised mini concert by country music star Keith Urban. Past guests have included Sheryl Crow, Destiny’s Child, Kelly Clarkson and Toby Keith. The artists perform for free and urge Americans to be generous during the Christmas season.
The halftime show has two aims.
“From a business standpoint, it’s about entertaining other people,” Anderson said. “From the humanity side, it’s about helping other people. That’s what we try to do every day.”
Salvation Army members, known as Salvationists, say the nationally televised halftime show gives them tens of millions of dollars’ worth of free publicity each year.
They give the Jones family a lot of the credit for the success of their annual red kettle campaign, which collected $139 million in 2009 and $1.3 billion since 1997.
Anderson is creator, director and producer of each year’s halftime extravaganza, which has sparked “an enormous jump” in donations, according to Salvation Army spokesman Maj. George Hood.
The production “gets bigger and better every year,” he said.
In recognition of her contributions and leadership skills, the Salvation Army recently named Anderson to serve as chairman of its national advisory board. She is the first woman to be selectedas board chairman.
Hood says Anderson is a young and energetic leader, adding, “There’s nobody better.”
Anderson says her family has been blessed and now wants to be a blessing to others.
She talks about the importance of having what she calls “a servant’s heart.”
“It’s great to have success, but unless you can share it with someone else, then it’s empty,” she said. “You have a short time here [on earth] and you need to make a difference while you can.”
While the Jones family helps numerous charities, its closest ties are with the Salvation Army.
In addition to the halftime show, the Jones family invites Salvationists to share a Thanksgiving meal at Cowboys Stadium. Afterward, they are invited to watch the game in Jones’ luxury suite.
On Thursday, dozens of Salvation Army members, many of them in uniform, dined on carved turkey, roast ham and all the fixings.
Aware that Salvationists are teetotalers (abstaining from alcohol is a condition of membership), Jones served nothing stronger than iced tea and lemonade at the dinner.
“You, your colleagues, you inspire me,” Jones told his guests.
During Thursday’s dinner, Salvation Army National Cmdr. William A. Roberts offered a pre-meal prayer of Thanksgiving and followed it with a post-dinner torrent of praise for his hosts.
“We thank God for you. You are a gift from God for the Salvation Army,” Roberts said.
The entire Jones family chips in each year, giving money, manning kettles or serving meals to the needy.
Few work harder than the family patriarch.
Each year on Thanksgiving Eve since 1997, Jerry Jones, with the help of satellites, barnstorms from coast to coast.
For three hours Wednesday, he chit-chatted with TV personalities in Nashville, Tenn., and Rochester, N.Y., about the Cowboys and red kettles, football and bell ringers.
Over and over, people were encouraged to donate $10 by texting the word “GIVE” to phone number 85944 or to “become a virtual bell ringer” by going to onlineredkettle. org on the Internet.
Then it was time for a podcast touting “the world’s largest faith-based social service charity.”
Later, there was a photo opportunity with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, plus promotional videos to shoot and public service announcements to prepare.
Throughout the morning, Jones looked relaxed and smiled often, pausing to hug family members and hobnob with Salvation Army brass.
Television makeup and a tidal wave of enthusiasm masked Jones’ exhaustion, if there was any. He’d only had 90 minutes’ sleep.
In a year of game-day disappointments, Jones still has a Super Bowl-caliber passion for the Salvation Army.
Football dynasties rise and fall, coaches come and go, but hunger and poverty stick around.
Jones is a billionaire now, according to Forbes magazine, but he can remember family members who struggled to make ends meet, relatives who were forced to emigrate from Arkansas to the West Coast in search of a better life, he said.
Jones himself was born in El Segundo, Calif. He does not claim to be a self-made man.
“I had a lot of help,” he said.
“Whatever measure of success I’ve gotten to be a part of, I’ve stood on a lot of people’s shoulders with a lot of constituencies, whether it be teachers, coaches or parents,” he said.
The Cowboys have only existed since 1960. The Salvation Army has been around since 1865, promoting the Gospel and good works.
Its motto, “Blood and Fire,” has spiritual roots, but would be well-suited for the roughand-tumble world of professional football.
With the economy sputtering and U.S. unemployment near 10 percent, the Salvation Army is especially busy this year, providing food for the hungry, shelter for the homeless, coats for the cold and Christmas toys for children who might otherwise get nothing.
Jones knew he was buying a marquee sporting franchise when he purchased the Cowboys for roughly $150 million in 1989. But it took awhile, he says, to grasp the power of the Cowboys “brand” and the size of its fan base.
“The Cowboys can take a football that costs, let’s say, $150 ... and contribute it to a fundraiser and have some players sign it, and that football can engender and create several thousand dollars for that charity,” Jones said.
Over a year, all those signed footballs, helmets and hats can generate hundreds of thousands of dollars, helping to “create huge benefit for the people who need it. You have the opportunity to do it when you have the most valuable sports entity in the United States,” he said.
By pairing the Cowboys and the Salvation Army, Jones and his family aim to make a multimillion-dollar national impact every season.
“Sports create a passion that may or may not be misplaced, but it’s there. It creates an interest factor and in our case huge visibility,” Jones said. “Having the Cowboys’ name associated with [the Salvation Army] and having the NFL’s name - it moves mountains.”
Front Section, Pages 1 on 11/26/2010