Jerry Jones is glad the media looked past any disagreements they might've had and appreciates the process that led him to the Hall of Fame. (1:28)

HOUSTON -- Jerry Jones isn't quite sure what year it was -- either 1963 or '64, he said -- but he remembers sitting on a bus next to Jim Lindsey for an Arkansas game in Little Rock, reading a magazine story on Art Modell.

Even as a co-captain of a national championship team in 1964 as a guard, Jones knew he would not pursue a career as a professional player or coach. A former Razorbacks teammate, Jim Mooty, made $10,000 to play for the Dallas Cowboys. Engineering grads were making $11,000 a year, and Jones and his wife, Gene, paid $65 a month for a duplex that another former Razorbacks teammate, Lance Alworth, once called home; it was owned by the school's athletic director.

But the magazine struck Jones the way he would strike defensive linemen. In 1961, Modell purchased the Cleveland Browns after a successful run in the advertising world.

The Cowboys have won 10 division titles and have been to the postseason 13 times during the Jerry Jones era. Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports

"It showed a picture of Art Modell, his beautiful wife and their two boys, and it was talking about how Art Modell had decided to buy the Cleveland Browns, and I remember reading that and we were riding along talking and I thought, 'What would it be like to be doing that with your life?' " Jones said.

More than 20 years later, Jones found out when he purchased the Cowboys and Texas Stadium for a record $140 million.

Jones' contributions cover both on-field and off-field success and as a result, he was elected to the 2017 class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a contributor on Saturday.

He is one of three current owners to have at least three Super Bowl wins to his credit. The Cowboys became the first organization to win three Super Bowls in a four-year span, earning the "Team of the '90s" distinction. Six players on his watch as owner and general manager have gone on to the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Troy Aikman, Larry Allen, Charles Haley, Michael Irvin, Deion Sanders and Emmitt Smith. In 2014, Jones was named the NFL's Executive of the Year.

Almost from the beginning, Jones challenged the NFL establishment in its business dealings, first with television negotiations and later with marketing deals. He has helped turn the NFL into one of the most profitable ventures in the world. Forbes named the Cowboys the most valuable sports franchise in the world at more than $4 billion.

But Jones said he didn't purchase the Cowboys because of a potential profit. The team was losing $1 million a month when he bought it. He purchased the team to be part of an exclusive club.

"I live a life where it is just absolutely a high relative to do what I do and being with the Cowboys," Jones said in a conference room near his second-story office at The Star, the team's new practice facility in Frisco, Texas. "It hardly seems fair to also get to sit here and maybe get a pat on the back through the Hall of Fame because I have such respect. I know as well as anybody that has ever been a fan of this game, I know the caliber of people that are in the Hall of Fame."

The journey has not been without controversy. He fired the only coach the Cowboys had ever known at the time, Tom Landry, and some fans have never forgiven him. When Jones and Jimmy Johnson could no longer coexist, the coach departed amid a budding dynasty after winning Super Bowls XXVII and XXVIII (two years after Johnson left, Dallas would win Super Bowl XXX). Jones has maintained final say over the football operations despite a Super Bowl drought that has stretched 21 seasons.

Jerry Jones Owner, president, GM

Arkansas

1989-present, Dallas Cowboys • First NFL owner to win three Super Bowls in first seven years of ownership

• Cowboys have won 10 division titles and been to postseason 13 times during Jones era

• Played leading role in creation and development of AT&T Stadium

• League leader in managing areas of marketing, sponsorship, stadium management, labor negotiations and television

Many put Jones' tenure in categories that include Johnson and don't include Johnson, but he does not apologize for the structure by which he runs the Cowboys.

"I've always believed that that gives us, [it] did then, [it] did when we first bought the team, and in my mind [it] does now, allows us to make the kind of decisions that we made early on. It allowed us to make those crisp, clean, fast, aggressively, passionately, it allowed us to do better than the traditional way these clubs are set up as far as I'm concerned," Jones said. "There's no question that structure helped us early. I think it just hasn't dominoed for us relative to getting some more Super Bowl wins, but I think it's been a continued plus on making decisions regarding football."

Over the years, Jones has admitted mistakes. He regretted not maintaining a relationship with Johnson, who was a teammate on that bus when Jones was reading about Modell. Jones regretted firing coach Chan Gailey after only two seasons. The owner/GM has made mistakes in personnel, from not selecting Randy Moss in the first round in 1998, to signing Greg Hardy as a free agent two years ago. The Super Bowl drought bothers him.

"I have a high tolerance for ambiguity," Jones said. "I don't have to know what is going to happen on Friday every week. I may operate better by not knowing. A Mississippi riverboat gambler may be at his charming best when the next card may get him thrown off the boat. That's when he operates the best."

To Jones, that's how he operates best.