T. Boone Pickens, billionaire OK St. donor, dies
T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire oil tycoon whose cash helped put Oklahoma State soccer on the map, died Wednesday. He was 91.
Pickens had been battling a sequence of strokes and head accidents because of a fall he took in 2017, in accordance with his spokesman Jay Rosser.
Pickens’ penchant for philanthropy and love for Oklahoma State soccer dovetailed in 2006 when he donated $165 million to the athletic program, the biggest single reward in NCAA historical past.
Pickens graduated from Oklahoma State in 1951 with a level in geology when the college nonetheless glided by Oklahoma A&M.
T. Boone Pickens in 2009, with Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy. AP Picture/Sue Ogrocki
He wound up giving greater than $300 million to Oklahoma State athletics.
Pickens’ preliminary contribution bankrolled a number of state-of-the-art athletic amenities, in addition to a brand new soccer stadium, which was named after him.
“I understand how to win. I’ve gained earlier than. And I win every single day within the enterprise I’m in,” Pickens informed ESPN in 2006. “I do not discover sports activities a helluva lot totally different than enterprise. … I would like us to be aggressive.”
With glowing amenities to draw recruits, that is precisely what Oklahoma State soccer grew to become below Mike Gundy, whom Pickens had urged athletic director Mike Holder to advertise to go coach after Les Miles left for LSU in 2004.
Earlier than Pickens’ donation, the Cowboys had reached double-digit wins solely 3 times of their historical past. Since, they’ve gained 10 or extra video games in six seasons. In 2011, Oklahoma State additionally captured its first Massive 12 title and simply narrowly missed out on enjoying LSU for the BCS Nationwide Championship.
“We have now some added benefits that we have by no means had,” Gundy mentioned in 2008, when his crew climbed into the highest 10 of the polls for the primary time since Barry Sanders’ Heisman Trophy season in 1988. “It might have by no means occurred with out [Pickens]. There’s simply no approach. It could not occur.”
But as Oklahoma State rose to prominence behind Pickens’ and Gundy’s mutual contributions, tensions rose between them. Pickens would grow to be irritated when Gundy entertained job overtures. And on a number of events, Pickens publicly criticized Gundy for having a poor document in opposition to rival Oklahoma.
However in 2017, the 2 made amends, and Pickens tweeted a letter of assist to Gundy after Oklahoma State’s 62-52 loss to the Sooners.
“Through the years, him and I’ve butted heads so much, however we do suppose so much alike and now we have a standard purpose,” Gundy mentioned per week later. “He desires to win each recreation. He is a competitor.”
Pickens made his fortune founding Petroleum Exploration with simply $2,500 in 1956. Over the next three a long time, the corporate he renamed Mesa Petroleum ballooned into one of many largest oil firms on the planet. Pickens later grew to become well-known for being a company raider of different oil firms. In 1985, Time journal even put him on its cowl with the headline “The Takeover Recreation.”
At 68, Pickens left Mesa and based the hedge fund BP Capital Administration, which wager closely and efficiently on pure gasoline, turning him into one of many richest folks in America, whereas setting the groundwork for his involvement in Oklahoma State athletics.
Pickens was born Thomas Boone Pickens Jr. on Could 22, 1928, in Holdenville, Oklahoma. After graduating highschool in Amarillo, Texas, Pickens spent one 12 months at Texas A&M on a basketball scholarship. When that scholarship was not renewed, he transferred to Oklahoma A&M.
Pickens was married and divorced 5 occasions. He’s survived by 5 youngsters and 11 grandchildren.