Tulsa World: Pickens says he'll give another gift to OSU

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Pickens says he’ll give another gift to OSU

BIG DONOR
Boone Pickens: He is to make another major gift to OSU athletics on Monday to replenish funds hurt by economic downturn.

By BILL HAISTEN World Sports Writer
Published: 10/26/2008 3:08 AM
Last Modified: 10/26/2008 3:08 AM

AUSTIN, Texas— During Saturday’s Oklahoma State-Texas football game, OSU donor Boone Pickens said he will announce “another major gift” to the Cowboy Athletic Department on Monday.

According to a source familiar with the situation, the gift will be $63 million.

Pickens said he “will replenish” the OSU athletics fund that is earmarked for the development of the proposed Athletic Village in Stillwater.

“There won’t be any red (ink) around this place,” Pickens said. “It will be all black.”

Pickens would not divulge the value of the OSU athletics fund, which has been a+ected by the recent economic downturn. Pickens did, however, acknowledge that the fund’s value has dropped about 60 percent.

At halftime of Saturday’s game, which ended with a 28-24 win for the No. 1-ranked Longhorns over the seventh-ranked Cowboys, Pickens reported that the OSU athletics money has been removed from the BP Capital fund and deposited in a bank. “We’re out. We’re on the pocketbook. We’re in the bank,” Pickens said. “Our program is off track. Sure, we took some losses. Who didn’t in this crash?”

Asked whether his Monday gift would allow OSU to proceed with the Athletic Village development, Pickens said, “Not yet.”

“We’ll get (the OSU account) pumped back up and we’ll go again,” he said. “We’ll get to where we want to go, but maybe a little slower.”

During a Saturday interview on the Cowboy Radio Network, Pickens said, “There’s no way I will ever let OSU come out short.”

The announcement of Pickens’ latest gift is expected to occur during Cowboy coach Mike Gundy’s 1 p.m. press conference onMonday. Pickens, a 1951 graduate of OSU, is not expected to attend the press conference.

In December 2005, it was Pickens’ $165 million donation that served as the OSU fund’s foundation. The Athletic Village project’s status had become uncertain because the fund was so profoundly affected by the national economic downturn.

OSU officials said on Friday that there was no timeline for resuming construction on the Athletic Village. But spokesman Gary Shutt denied rumors the project had been permanently shelved.

The Athletic Village is to include a variety of venues, including an indoor practice facility and a baseball stadium.

Bill Haisten 581-8397
bill.haisten@tulsaworld.com

By BILL HAISTEN World Sports Writer

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	Report Comment RN@OSUMC, Tulsa (10/26/2008 8:23:33 AM) Hey Boone Pickens, If you can give $63 million to the OSU athletics fund, how about giving a little to the OSU Medical Center to keep it open? The healthcare of our indigent patients is more important, and a slap in the face, when money is spent to play a football game and they are fighting for their lives. I am pleading with you as a nurse, and from all the doctors, and other healthcare workers. Please help us keep OSU Medical Center OPEN!
	Report Comment OkieGrump, Okmulgee (10/26/2008 9:24:51 AM) He is buying up good will that he hopes will keep down the furor when he gets to sell the Oklahoma water rights he has been buying up. Yep, you guessed it, he will be selling the water to Texas.
	Report Comment Bluebird48, Sand Springs (10/26/2008 10:10:49 AM) Talk is cheap.. Back where I come from..It show me the money NOW. and we will talk later over an oozo.
	Report Comment Paula, Midtown (10/26/2008 2:01:18 PM) T-bone is pathetic. Giving to sports is nothing. If he wants to buy his way into heaven he needs to follow his favorite Obama and spread the wealth a little more. Building sports facilities is not philanthropy.
	Report Comment Stella, Tulsa (10/26/2008 2:58:50 PM) Mr. Pickens has shown himself to be a man of honor for keeping his commitment to OSU despite the economic downturn. I wouldn't presume to tell a man how to spend his own money. Thanks, Boone!
	Report Comment Charley, (10/26/2008 4:40:44 PM) Well Stella, I'm not against suggesting to a man where his money might be spent, to do some thing more than make a football players. If OSU Medical Center could use the funds to help the citizens around Oklahoma, that would be great. Helping mankind is really the job for all of us & it is good for those less fortunate. If Mr. Pickens just wants a football team, maybe he should buy one to entertain himself. OSU will take the money, spend it & ask for more. After a while, it will be hard to tell where the 63,000,000.00 gift went.
	Report Comment Few Clothes, Austin, TX (10/26/2008 7:22:39 PM) I liked Slim Pickens, especiallly in Dr. Strangelove.
	Report Comment Idon'thateverything, (10/26/2008 11:46:12 PM) I don't even like OSU but I have a lot of respect for the man. He gives his own money to OSU and he is trying to make the world a better place by creating clean energy. BTW his first donations were to academics.
	Report Comment kma, (10/27/2008 9:22:24 AM) Truth Patrol, he gave $100million to the academic side a few months ago. And as Idon'thate said above me, he had given to academics on campus long before he gave to athletics.
	Report Comment Bubba in Glenpool, (10/27/2008 9:33:08 AM) I don't understand...get your hands out of T. Boone's pockets! It's his cash, he can spend it however he chooses! I despise OSU but T.Boone could flush all his cash down a toilet if he wants to and it would be his prerogative!!!
	Report Comment D.Boone, (10/27/2008 11:04:30 AM) He's greesing the wheels to get the Goverment money to help him get all these big rig trucks and cars filling up with natural gas at his stations. He's going all over the country pushing his PLAN and I heard that his group wants the goverment to give huge rebates to those who buy these Nat. gas vehicles. How could you say no to someone who gives all this money away, but it would be peanuts compared to what they would get if the taxpayer buys into their nat.gas PLAN.
	Report Comment NEWFOUNDHOCKEYMOMFAN, (10/27/2008 4:39:00 PM) RN@OSUMC & DBOONE: Congrats you 2R the reason why America is suckingarss. Plain and simple stupidity and clueless to a degree that maybe beyond help! 1. First, it's his GD money to do what he see's fit and how he wants to spend it. 2. If he wants to have nine monkies painted orange, soend 500 million teaching them to scream "OU SUCKS" so be it. 3. Great, the reason your hosptl. is closing is because it makes no money, zip nada nothing. Close it, send the people somewhere else. -------------------- As for converting to NG, yes that will cost billions. however it will also make us trillions! We have a 120 yr suppyl to heat 60 million homes. Cleaner, better fuel, so sorry, TB will make lots of monies, that how the country was formed. He's placed his (again) money where his mouth is. Now come Nov. 5th when the great wealth redistribution saint comes marchin in. Maybe this will change, Govt. will decide on who should make X and who should make Y. So when that happens, all of you twits who think the govt. owes you somethin fer nothin or can run our lives, a very rude awakening will happen. 5yrs from now, some of you will have learned a valuable lesson.

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