All About Stephen, Jerry Jr. and Charlotte

When it comes to the Dallas Cowboys, team owner Jerry Jones keeps it all in the family.

The billionaire and his wife Eugenia share three children, Stephen, Charlotte and Jerry Jr., who are all heavily involved in the Cowboys organization. Life changed for the family when Jerry decided to purchase the team in 1989, altering the trajectory of all of their careers.

“I don’t think we realized back in February of ’89 just how much that was going to impact our lives. Just the path the Dallas Cowboys has taken our family on and the visibility and with that visibility, there is obviously a lot of responsibility and there can be a lot of criticism,” Jerry Jr. told the Arkansas Democrat Gazette in 2018.

He continued, “It definitely impacted our lives, and we quickly learned that it was taking a lot and you needed all hands on deck.”

Those hands on deck happened to be Jerry Jr. and his siblings, who are all now co-owners of the team and hold executive roles in the organization. The past few decades of working together have been easy for the trio, who say they grew up with immense “respect” for one another.

“At the end of the day, there is no one I would trust more to partner with than my brother and sister,” Stephen shared.

Here’s everything to know about Jerry Jones’ three children: Stephen, Charlotte and Jerry Jr.

John Stephen Jones, 60

Jerry and Eugenia welcomed their first child, John Stephen, on June 21, 1964, in Danville, Ark.

At the time, Eugenia was visiting family and Jerry was working in Oklahoma — and almost missed his son’s birth. Believing they were having a little girl, the couple picked the name Stephanie but quickly pivoted when they found out he was a boy, per the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

Stephen was raised in the nearby city of Little Rock, decades prior to his family getting into the business of professional football. But even before his father purchased the Dallas Cowboys, Stephen had a dream of playing college football — a goal that his father told him he had to take seriously. He eventually became a star quarterback at Catholic High School For Boys in Little Rock.

Stephen told The Dallas Morning News in 2017 that Jerry instilled in him the value of hard work and told him that he needed to treat football like “a job” if he didn’t want to get a traditional job. When Jerry caught him hosting a pool party instead of training one summer day, he told Stephen to put on a suit and drove him to the local Wendy’s for a job interview. Stephen got the job on the spot and was expected to clock in the next morning — but Jerry ended up giving him a second chance to focus on football.

“He goes, ‘Well, are you learning anything from this?’ ‘Yes, I have. I shouldn’t have been home. I should’ve been working,’ ” Stephen told the outlet. “He goes, ‘You know what? I’m a big believer in maybe a second chance. I already talked to [the owner] … If you think you can get it right, we’ll give you one more chance.’ I can promise you I was never within five miles of my house for the rest of my summer workouts and jobs during my next two years.”

Stephen was later offered a football scholarship at Princeton University but chose to attend the University of Arkansas, his father’s alma mater. Jerry only allowed him to attend the local school if he agreed to a challenging major. Stephen chose chemical engineering and balanced the intense coursework while playing for the Razorbacks as a linebacker. He graduated in 1988.

After finishing school, Stephen got a job at his father’s oil and gas company, JMC and Arkoma Production Co. He didn’t spend too much time in the oil industry because Jerry soon sold the company and purchased the Dallas Cowboys and Stephen quickly became involved in the team’s management.

“He called me up and said, ‘How would you like to work for the Cowboys?’ I said, ‘I’m coming,’ ” Stephen told the Arkansas Democrat Gazette in 2014.

Stephen was named one of the club’s vice presidents and has since become vital to all aspects of the team’s operations and management. He currently serves as the Cowboys’ chief operating officer and co-owner and as the president of AT&T Stadium, which he helped develop. According to his team bio, Stephen oversees the team’s scouting and player personnel department, having been instrumental in the signings of major players like Emmitt Smith, Troy Aikman, Daryl Johnston, Michael Irvin and Deion Sanders.

Additionally, he is responsible for all events that come through AT&T Stadium as well as the Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters. Stephen has received numerous awards for his contributions to the NFL, including when he and his father were named the co-recipients of the NFL Executive of the Year Award in 2014. He is also a member of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.

Stephen currently serves on the NFL’s New Stadium Committee and Competition Committee. He is also a board member of Complexity Gaming, the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association, the Dallas Citizens Council and the Baylor Health Care System Foundation.

Stephen has been married to his wife Karen since the early ’90s. The couple met at the University of Arkansas, where Stephen was close friends with her brother. They now share four children, Jessica, Jordan, Caroline and John Stephen Jr.

Charlotte Jones, 58

Jerry and Eugenia welcomed their daughter Charlotte on July 26, 1966.

She was born in Missouri, where her father was working in the insurance industry, but by the time she was 3, the family had relocated back to Arkansas. Looking back on her childhood, Charlotte says her parents placed a high value on spending quality time together and making sure they were present for all of their children’s events.

“My mom and dad stressed the importance of family,” Charlotte told The Dallas Morning News in 2017. “It was family first. At dance recitals and school events, my parents were always there. They gave us the gift of their presence.”

For most of her adolescence, she attended the private Pulaski Academy but halfway through high school, she decided to transfer to a public school, per the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. Despite being mostly unknown to her classmates, she ran for class president against a popular athlete. She lost by just four votes — but the experience played a large role in her eventual acceptance into Stanford University.

“I think sometimes you learn the most from some of your failures and for me, it was a great effort that really taught me a lot, and I still think it made for the greatest college essay and helped me get into Stanford,” she told the Democrat Gazette.

Charlotte, who was valedictorian of her high school class, moved to California to attend Stanford but she didn’t leave her family behind. Jerry opened an office nearby in Sacramento and Eugenia often visited, even attending classes with Charlotte.

In 1988, Charlotte graduated with a degree in human biology. She got her first job working as an administrative assistant to her father’s friend, then-U.S. Rep. Tommy Robinson, in Washington D.C. While working in politics, Jerry tried to get Charlotte to help him with various tasks with the Cowboys. Although she initially turned him down, she finally agreed when he needed help with the cheerleaders’ uniforms.

“While I was there, he asked me to stay. I told him I didn’t know anything about running a professional sports franchise, and he looked at me dead serious and said, ‘Neither do I. I just need someone around me that I can trust. Someone that I know won’t be afraid of a challenge, and who will get in here and fail and get up and go again,’ ” Charlotte told PaperCity Magazine in 2021.

Charlotte moved to Dallas around 1990 and began helping out with the team. When she asked her father what work she should be doing, he told her, “First, find a way to stop losing money. And whatever you do, don’t tarnish the Star.” Since then, Charlotte has become an integral part of the Dallas Cowboys organization and one of the highest-ranking women in football.

She currently serves as the Cowboys’ chief brand officer and co-owner of the team. According to her team bio, she oversees “all business operations, strategies and applications surrounding the team’s brand as it is presented to fans worldwide” and “leads the Cowboys in brand marketing, fan engagement, stadium design, entertainment, licensed apparel, cause marketing and community relations.” She also helped design AT&T Stadium as well as The Star, the team’s world headquarters.

In 2012, Charlotte was the first woman to be named chairman of the NFL Foundation. Five years later, she was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame for Football Administration.

Charlotte additionally serves as president of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Her position within the organization has garnered some controversy after the cheerleaders’ salaries were discussed in the Netflix docuseries, America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.

The NFL executive also spearheaded the Dallas Cowboys’ partnership with The Salvation Army — she served as chairman of The Salvation Army’s National Advisory Board from 2010 to 2014.

Charlotte met her first husband, Shy Anderson, while a student at Stanford. They tied the knot in 1991 and went on to welcome three children: Haley, Shy Jr. and Paxton. Following their divorce, Charlotte married Amir Rozwadowski in 2024.

Jerry Jones Jr., 54

Jerry Sr. and Eugenia welcomed their youngest child, Jerry Jr., on Sept. 27, 1969.

While Jerry Sr. didn’t initially want to pass on his namesake to any of his children because he was unsure about the idea of someone calling his son “Junior,” he eventually had a change of heart. Jerry Jr. was later nicknamed Jerome by friends and family — and was sometimes even called “Little Jerry.”

After graduating from Catholic High School For Boys, where he was a football player, Jerry Jr. enrolled at Georgetown University. He graduated with a degree in political science in 1992 and went on to earn his law degree from Southern Methodist University in 1995. While he initially thought he might go into politics, Jerry Jr. ended up working as a lawyer.

Several years into his law career, Jerry Jr. decided to join the family business. He was first brought on as vice president and general counsel for the Cowboys but now serves as the chief sales and marketing officer as well as one of the co-owners of the team. Through his years in the NFL, Jerry Jr. has become an important member of the Dallas Cowboys front office.

According to his team bio, he oversees “the club’s entire sales and marketing efforts, both those directed at the team’s loyal fans as well as its corporate partners.” Jerry Jr.’s sales and marketing teams are also responsible for the Cowboys’ “vast merchandising business as well as all digital and broadcast media.”

Jerry Jr. was also involved in the development of AT&T Stadium as well as the Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters and Training Facility. It was his idea to center the practice facility around “health and wellness, sports nutrition and sports medicine” which led to the creation of the Baylor Scott and White Sports Therapy and Research Center. He also helped create the Cowboys Fit fitness center, which has now opened several locations. Additionally, he assisted in the opening of Cowboys Club, a private membership club overlooking the team’s practice fields.

The NFL executive is also the CEO of Dallas Cowboys Merchandising, Ltd. When it was founded in 1996, the Cowboys became the only NFL team that handles its own logos and trademarks.

Jerry Jr. married former equestrian Lori Lemon in 2006 and the couple now share two children, James and Mary. They split their time between their home in Dallas and their ranch in Springfield, Mo. He is also father to a daughter named Juliette from his prior relationship with actress Janine Turner.