FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas will wear special uniforms to honor Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones when it plays Texas A&M Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Jones, a North Little Rock native who bought the Cowboys in 1989, was a senior starting guard on the Razorbacks' 11-0 team in 1964 that shared the national championship with Alabama.
“At my age, if I put this thing on, I might run the ball a little bit out there.” - Jerry Jones pic.twitter.com/jGTzWYuUaM
— Razorback Football (@RazorbackFB) September 17, 2017
The Razorbacks will wear silver helmets and pants — like Jones' Cowboys — along with a red jersey. The uniform will have similar markings as the Cowboys' uniform, such as a Razorback logo on the jersey shoulder where Dallas wears a star and wide stripes on the pants.
Essentially, Razorback red replaces Cowboys blue everywhere on the uniform, which was unveiled Sunday on the UA website with players wearing the No. 20 jersey. That's the number All-American running back Darren McFadden, a former Razorback, now wears for the Cowboys.
“What do you give a man who’s had everything and now is going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame?” University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Athletic Director Jeff Long said in a news release on the UA website announcing the special uniforms. "When I saw this idea, I thought, 'There it is.' ”
Jones, who arranged for the Razorbacks to play the Aggies in AT&T Stadium when the Cowboys' home opened in 2009, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August.
“I don’t know that I’ve had anything happen to me that has been as meaningful as this gesture from the University of Arkansas,” Jones said in a statement on the UA website.
Jones and his family have been generous boosters to the UA, including donating $10.65 million for the Jerry and Gene Jones Student-Athlete Success Center, a 55,000 square foot building which opened in the fall of 2015.