Who is Oklahoma State sugar daddy T. Boone Pickens, and what kind of man gives $165 million to a school's athletic department? And what does it mean for Oklahoma State in general and for college athletics as a whole?
The answers aren't pretty.
|
|
| OSU's mascot waves to the fans in -- where else? -- Boone Pickens Stadium. (Getty Images) |
It doesn't mention Pickens' link to the infamous segregationist. It doesn't mention his role in the unethical conduct that helped sway the 2004 U.S. presidential election. It doesn't mention his support for some of the most notorious politicians in recent decades.
Oklahoma State doesn't want you to know about that side of oilman T. Boone Pickens. Oklahoma State might not want to know, either. That sort of stuff leaves a stain, and Oklahoma State would rather shake his hand, endorse his check and paint T. Boone Pickens as "one of America's greatest philanthropists," according to the release. And Pickens has indeed given away millions upon millions of dollars to various causes.
From July to October 2004, he gave $3 million to the Swift Boat Vets and POW's For Truth, which used his money to help fund the brutal smear job on Sen. John Kerry that helped swing the presidential election to one of Pickens' Texas oilman cronies, George W. Bush. In that same time frame, Pickens gave $2.5 million to Progress for America Voter Fund, another outfit that helped Bush by attacking Kerry.
Just like that fawning press release from Oklahoma State, the $5.5 million he gave to influence the presidential election doesn't tell the entire story on T. Boone Pickens. But it's another facet. So is the fact that Pickens has given $1,000 on three separate occasions to ... John Kerry. No hard feelings, right, Sen. Kerry?
Pickens throws around money like confetti at politicians, giving his cash -- and presumably his approval -- to nearly 100 individuals, including segregationist Sen. Jesse Helms, disgraced speaker of the house Newt Gingrich and indicted congressman Tom DeLay. You are the friends you keep? T. Boone Pickens had better hope not. And by extension, Oklahoma State had better hope not as well.
Pickens, according to election contribution records, also has given to Oliver North, bumbling former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and a faraway Minnesota politician, U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, who rewarded Pickens last year by flip-flopping on a drilling vote that went the way of big oil.
A smart man, T. Boone Pickens. Nobody can deny that.
A real life Gordon Gekko, Pickens founded Mesa Petroleum in 1956 and turned that initial $2,500 investment into a $1.5 billion personal empire, giving him enough money to throw it wherever he wants. And sometimes he throws it in great directions; Pickens is a major supporter of animal rights, and he and his BP Capital employees gave $7 million to Hurricane Katrina relief.
Pickens might've given more to Katrina Relief if he thought someone would rename New Orleans after himself. He has a knack for writing a check and leaving behind a huge sign to remind everyone T. Boone Pickens was here. There's the T. Boone Pickens College of Business at West Texas A&M. There's the T. Boone Pickens School of Geology at Oklahoma State, which offers the Boone Pickens General University Scholarship Fund and where the football team plays in Boone Pickens Stadium.
That was before he gave OSU $165 million. So what comes next, Oklahoma State at T. Boone Pickens Campus? He owns the place, you know. His total gifts are reportedly worth around $300 million at this point -- most of it since 2003, and more than 90 percent for athletics.
