H R Bum Bright

Dallas Cowboys majority owner Jerry Jones says that if a proposed deal works out he'll own 95% of the team. Jones confirmed that he has an agreement in principle to purchase Houston resident Ed Smith's 27% share of the National Football League team. "We're in the process of completing the paperwork," Jones said. "About all that's left to do is send him the check." Jones said Mike McCoy, his partner in the oil and gas business, will purchase the remaining 5% of the team from Arthur Temple.

Billionaire Marvin Davis is close to a deal to buy the Dallas Cowboys, two Dallas newspapers reported in Saturday's editions. Davis met with team President Tex Schramm for two hours in Los Angeles Friday to discuss the organization and sale of the team, the Dallas Morning News said. "This is very serious negotiations," an unnamed source was quoted as saying. "Some talks you can tell are a waste. This is the real thing." The Dallas Times Herald also said negotiations are moving toward a sale.

Clint Murchison Jr., former owner of the Dallas Cowboys and an oil millionaire whose financial empire crumbled, died in a Dallas hospital Monday. He was 63. Murchison died after developing pneumonia, which complicated a crippling nerve disease that had impaired his speech and confined the entrepreneur to a wheelchair two years ago. He sold the Cowboys in 1984 for between $40 and $60 million to a limited partnership headed by H.R. (Bum) Bright.

Four offers have been made to buy the Dallas Cowboys and two more--including one by Lakers owner Jerry Buss--are expected to join the bidding for the National Football League team, a key person involved in the negotiations said. Jack Veatch, managing director of the Dallas office of Salomon Bros., which is helping to line up prospective buyers, said Wednesday that H. R. (Bum) Bright has received four written offers for the team and the Texas Stadium lease.

An era came to an end today when NFL owners unanimously approved the sale of the Dallas Cowboys to Arkansas oilman Jerry Jones and Tex Schramm, the only president the team ever had, resigned to head the new International Football League. The vote at a special meeting was followed by the announcement that Schramm will head the new league, which hopes to start play as early as next spring. Schramm had headed the Cowboys since their beginning 29 years ago as an expansion team. Left Out of Decisions Since Jones bought the team Feb. 25 for $146 million, Schramm has been left out of all of the team's major decisions.

Officials of the Dallas Cowboys have turned to a bank for help in financing the team's enterprises, a published report says. Today's Dallas Times Herald quotes sources who say that Cowboys officials will announce Friday that First City, Texas-Dallas, the lead Dallas bank of Houston-based First City Bancorporation of Texas, will provide multimillion-dollar financing for the team and Texas Stadium Corp. First City will be "the bank of the Cowboys," team spokesman Greg Aiello told the newspaper.

Amid reports that Dallas Cowboys majority owner H. R. (Bum) Bright has sold the team to an Arkansas oilman, an aide close to Bright said negotiations are continuing with several prospective buyers, including Jerry Buss, owner of the Los Angeles Lakers. "Jerry Jones is not someone to take lightly," aide Jim Francis said Thursday night. "We think he's serious. The Bright people are taking him seriously. He's a good guy and he'd make a good owner. He's for real. "But there has been no deal.

The Dallas Times Herald and Dallas Morning News today launched editorial campaigns to get new Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and the Irving City Council to rename Texas Stadium in honor of former coach Tom Landry. Jones fired Landry last Saturday after buying the National Football League team from H. R. (Bum) Bright. The editorial in the Dallas Morning News also contained strong criticism of the manner in which Jones fired Landry, calling it "a callous end to a glorious career."

Fourteen members of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders say they are quitting the squad because new owner Jerry Jones wants them to wear skimpier uniforms, fraternize with the players and appear in beer commercials. Jones denied that he wanted to make such changes. "When (quarterback) Roger Staubach went out, he went out on top. They have retired. I'm resigning," cheerleader director Debbie Bond, 36, said today. In addition to Bond, all 14 veteran cheerleaders have said they will leave the team because of the dispute over the uniforms, The Dallas Morning News reported.

When the Dallas Cowboys come to Thousand Oaks this summer, they are going to need name tags. Gone are: Tom Landry, the coach. Tex Schramm, team president and general manager. Gil Brandt, vice president in charge of personnel. And, are the Cowboys also gone? Don't rule it out. The team will arrive in July for training camp at Cal Lutheran University, just as it has for the previous 26 summers. But after that, all bets are off. When Arkansas oilman Jerry Jones purchased the club from H. R. (Bum)