A Dallas Icon is Dead

Many will never recognize the name Wilford Jones, but you would recognize the outfit and the name if you ever watched the Dallas Cowboys for any length of time. Wilford Jones is also known in Dallas as "Crazy Ray." He was the unofficial mascot of the Cowboys for 44 years. He was never paid by the Cowboys though he was provided a parking space and pretty much all access to the stadium.

Today he died of congestive heart failure after battling diabetes, strokes and many other problems for the past several years. Here is the Dallas Morning News article about Crazy Ray's death. Here is the Dallas Cowboys.com article about Ray. Here is a site dedicated to helping Crazy Ray and his wife through financial difficulties from his life and illness. The site was created by Crazy Ray's neighbor Wayne Walker who is the director of video production at Dallas Theological Seminary.

Crazy Ray will be missed for his antics, passion and love of the Dallas Cowboys over the years. If you ever attended a Dallas game you will never forget Crazy Ray's famous whistle and sparring with the Washington Redskins mascot in Dallas and Washington.

I still remember my first game when I was 8 or 9 years old against the St. Louis Cardinals and Ray down on the field doing his thing.