Cowboys owner Jerry Jones attempts to explain his definition of 'glory hole'

Nearly two years ago, as the Texas Rangers celebrated their 2023 World Series title, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones used the term “glory hole” to explain what it feels like to win a major championship in sports. For the record, the Cowboys’ last Super Bowl win was in 1995.

“It is the absolute glory hole, to have that elusive win, to be the champion,” Jones said during a Nov. 3, 2023 appearance on Dallas’ 103.5 FM The Fan.

Now, during a recent appearance on the same radio program, Jones clarified his previous comments and revealed the root of his rather unique analogy.

“It’s an oil field term. It comes from when you’re in the business of drilling wells. It’s when you’ve basically made a big well,” Jones said Tuesday morning on 103.5 FM The Fan, via The Athletic‘s Jon Machota. “Mentally picture drilling a well and all of a sudden having all the oil start coming out at once and going in the air. That’s when you know you’ve hit a glory hole. I’m not going the other place, guys, it’s too early in the morning.”

The modern meaning of the term “glory hole” aside, Jones is correct that the term has far less risque roots in the drilling and mining industries, the later of which refers to “an open pit from which ore is extracted, especially where broken ore is passed to (an) undeground (layer) before being hoisted,” according to the Securities and Exchance Commission’s (SEC’s) Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval (EDGAR) system.

These aren’t the first instances that the 82-year-old Jerry Jones — a former oil magnate from Arkansas — used the term “glory hole” to describe winning. Over a decade ago, he spoke about returning the Cowboys to their past glory, and described it as a level the team would like to get back to.

“I’ve been here when it was glory hole days and I’ve been here when it wasn’t,” Jones said, over a decade ago. “Having said that, I want me some glory hole.”

As mentioned above, Jones’ Dallas Cowboys haven’t known that feeling in three decades since winning three Super Bowls between 1992-95. This season, the Cowboys are 1-1 through the first two weeks of the regular season following Sunday’s 40-37 win over the New York Giants. Dallas hasn’t made it out of the divisional round of the NFL Playoffs since that infamous 1995 season

— On3’s Steve Samra contributed to this report.