Who Is Eugenia Gene Jones? Meet The Wife Of Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones

Behind one of the most recognizable and polarizing owners in NFL history is a woman who has largely stayed out of the spotlight while shaping a great deal of what happens inside it. Eugenia “Gene” Jones, born February 15, 1944, in Danville, Arkansas, has been married to Jerry Jones for more than 60 years. She is 82, a former pageant queen, a philanthropist, an art curator, and by her husband's own account, his closest advisor and best friend. While Jerry generates headlines and controversy in roughly equal measure, Gene has quietly built a legacy in the arts, charity, and community work that extends well beyond football.

From Miss Arkansas to the Dallas Cowboys

Gene grew up in Danville as Eugenia Chambers, the daughter of a family that has run Chambers Bank in the town since 1930. She won the Miss Arkansas USA title in 1960, two years before she met a young Jerry Jones on a blind date at a University of Arkansas fair. The story goes that he won her a teddy bear by buying it outright rather than playing the game, which tells you something about how Jerry Jones approaches a situation he wants to win. They married on January 19, 1963, and built a family that now includes three children, Stephen, Charlotte, and Jerry Jr., all of whom hold executive roles with the Cowboys, ten grandchildren, and at least one great-grandchild born in March 2025.

The Role She Built With the Cowboys

Gene's formal title with the organization is not publicly listed, but her fingerprints are visible throughout it. She curated the Dallas Cowboys Art Collection, which is displayed at AT&T Stadium and The Star in Frisco, bringing a level of cultural ambition to the franchise that goes beyond the game. She serves on the SMU Board of Trustees and on boards connected to the arts and political studies across Texas. She and her family are Founding Family Donors to the Dallas Center for Performing Arts, and in 1998 they helped open a Salvation Army children's center in Irving. When Jerry was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017, he chose Gene to present him at the ceremony. He has called her a “rollercoaster” partner, and she has said she would not change a day of it.