Cowboys’ Jerry Jones ‘Is My Dad!’ DeMarcus Ware on Ring of Honor
After getting drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the first round of the 2005 NFL Draft and every year thereafter, DeMarcus Ware told owner Jerry Jones he wanted to etch his name in The Star.
Ware spent nine of his 12 NFL seasons in Dallas, owns the franchise sack record and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame earlier this month, but Jones surprised him with something that meant a little more to him Wednesday: he will be inducted into the Cowboys' Ring of Honor Class of 2023.
"Canton was great, but this is my home and my dad (Jones) that I played for," Ware said. "I did enough, which is one of the coolest things to say up here, but that's my statement, still at a loss for words."
Ware made an immediate impact on the Cowboys' defense and organization, racking up eight sacks in his rookie campaign. That was just the start of Ware's magnificent 117-sack Cowboys career in which he rattled off seven-consecutive Pro Bowl seasons from 2006-12.
The Auburn, Alabama, native said whenever he would run out of the tunnel at Texas and AT&T stadiums, he would always look up at one spot every time.
"I would go through that tunnel and I will see fire them two tubes of fire," Ware said. "I always looked up at the top it during the honor and I said, 'Man, I want to be right there.'
"It wasn't about me letting the guys down that were up in the Ring of Honor. It was becoming one of those guys and saying, 'I'm a Star, and now you go shine in a way that it needs to shine.'"
However, it isn't just an honor to Ware that he's being immortalized, but also an honor to the Cowboys' organization to have him be a part of it, Jones said.
Jones said Ware met all four of his criteria to become the 23rd overall member and 20th player inducted into the franchise's Ring of Honor.
"I emphasize player, I emphasize ambassador, I emphasize future and, more importantly, I emphasize the person," Jones said.
Ware - who grew up without his father in his life - said it "hurt" when he was released by the Cowboys because it felt like "my dad was sending me away from home." However, now that he's back in Dallas, he doesn't plan on leaving.
"I probably will go to (most) every single game, have my gold jacket on. I'm going to strut that around," Ware said. "I'm going to have my ring on, and I'm going to be the biggest Dallas Cowboy fan you've ever seen."
Follow Casey Smith on Twitter @casey_smith2419
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