Last week, I mentioned that Oklahoma State was rumored to be in big trouble due to the financial crisis.
OSU denied there was a problem.
STILLWATER, Okla., Oct 24, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Oklahoma State University is issuing the following statement through spokesperson Gary Shutt in response to erroneous and anonymous blog postings concerning the status of the funds donated by Boone Pickens and reinvested in BP Capital, as well as the future of the west end zone project.
Rumors circulating that the funds generously donated by Boone Pickens to Oklahoma State University's athletic program have been completely depleted and the massive west end zone project will not be finished are, without question, false. They are simply not true.
But then, a few days after that, there was this report:
Pickens Gives $63 Million for Oklahoma State Stadium(Bloomberg) -- T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire hedge-fund manager, donated $63 million to Oklahoma State University to complete a football-stadium expansion.
Pickens, 80, had donated $165 million to Oklahoma State sports in 2005, which the school invested in his Dallas hedge fund, BP Capital LLC. The fund lost money and Pickens is returning $125 million to the school in addition to making the new gift, Oklahoma State, in Stillwater, said on its Web site yesterday.
So, it sounds like the "rumors" were in fact true, but Pickens has made good on the loss.
Pickens originally went to Texas A&M on a basketball scholarship, but transferred to Oklahoma State (then Oklahoma A&M) after he lost his scholarship. I assume because his grades didn't measure up. I wonder if A&M regrets not cutting him a bit more slack.
