Dez Bryant mother may have already forgiven her son and the Dallas Cowboy wide receiver could be the poster boy of a reformed man who was once the perpetrator in a domestic violence situation. At an event in Dallas dubbed “Dallas Men Against Abuse,” Bryant publicly apologized for his role in an altercation between him and his Mom, where Bryant reportedly hit his mother.

He was arrested for the incident but no charges has been filed against him.

After the rally, where Bryant was the surprised speaker, he said he only wanted to talk about football after what has happened.

“Here’s all you need to know,” he said. “I’m done with domestic abuse.”

NFL Hall of Famer Roger Staubach expressed his frustration that public campaigns and rallies is needed to decrease the instances of domestic violence, which leaves women battered and bruised and in some cases, dead.

The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback told a crowd of thousands attending the rally in downtown Dallas that men should know better than to strike a woman.

“It’s amazing that we need to even have this rally, but the momentum needs to take shape,” says Staubach as he addresses the attendees.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and other city officials have waged a public campaign against domestic violence as there have been a series of high-profile crimes in which woman were killed or attacked, allegedly by men.

“You can call a man who hits a woman a lot of things, but you can’t call him a man,” says Rawlings.

The city’s Police Chief David Brown said his department has responded to more than 13,000 domestic violence calls each year. It’s a persistently and disturbingly high number that requires an array of social services for the victims.

The Dallas mayor, who has said that members of his own family have been victims of domestic violence, said half of the females in the U.S. will be struck at some point in their lives. It is estimated, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, that 85 percent of domestic violence victims are women.

Smith, like Staubach, was a longtime fixture of the Dallas Cowboys. He told the rally’s audience that one of the most fulfilling parts of life is to “reach out and help someone along the way.”

He said that more people must stand against domestic violence to cut into the number of women each year who are victims of domestic violence. He berated men incapable of controlling their emotions.

“It’s truly not a manly thing to do,” says Smith.