inspiration, has gone way beyond his own gifts. He really has inspired our university forever.” Among those Mr. Pickens inspired were Michael and Anne Greenwood. The couple’s donations have benefited OSU in countless ways, especially in the College of Arts and Sciences with the Michael and Anne Greenwood School of Music. Anne Greenwood spoke at the Boone Pickens Celebration of Life, recounting a story from 2008 when she and her husband took his advice to give to OSU sooner rather than later. “Now, because of Boone, Mike and I have the chance to see the difference we can make. And it’s extraordinarily rewarding,” she said. “Mr. Pickens always gave with the hope that his gifts would inspire others to join him, and they absolutely did.” SMALL-TOWN BEGINNINGS Long before becoming OSU’s biggest philanthropist, Mr. Pickens was a young boy with a paper route in Holdenville, learning from the words and deeds of his family members. “If I had to single out one piece of advice that’s guided me through life, most likely it would be from my grandmother, Nellie Molonson,” Mr. Pickens wrote in 2019. “She always made a point of making sure I understood that on the road to success, there’s no point in blaming others when you fail. Here’s how she put it: ‘Sonny, I don’t care who you are. Some day you’re going to have to sit on your own bottom.’” Coupling this advice with a strong work ethic and thirst for competition, Mr. Pickens graduated from Oklahoma A&M in geology in just three years after transferring from Texas A&M. He chose to change schools after his $25-per-month basketball scholarship was canceled, a move that Texas A&M’s 12th Man Magazine listed among the Aggies’ top mistakes. According to an assessment made by a Texas A&M basketball coach, however, the decision may have been warranted. “That coach told me one time, ‘You can’t run fast enough to scatter leaves,’” Mr. Pickens often recalled. Mr. Pickens moved on from basketball and by the time he was 35, he had founded Petroleum Exploration Inc. and Altair Oil. He consolidated them with his other holdings to form Mesa Petroleum, then the largest independent oil company in the United States. More acquisitions followed and in 1997, Mr. Pickens established the hedge fund investment company BP Capital. As his wealth grew, so did his generosity. In 2006, Mr. Pickens made the largest single donation to an NCAA athletic program to the tune of $165 million to OSU. He gave $9.4 million in 2008 to what is now the Boone Pickens School of Geology. He signed the Giving Pledge in 2010, joining a list of billionaires that included Warren Buffet and Bill and Malinda Gates in committing the majority of their wealth to philanthropy. Also in 2010, he pledged $120 million toward undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships, which resulted in more than 2,600 donors giving an additional $73.6 million. And in 2008, Mr. Pickens made a $100 million challenge gift for faculty endowed chairs — money that inspired $68 million in additional donations and was matched by the state’s endowed chair program. “Endowed chairs and professorships allow us to recruit and retain the very best faculty to Oklahoma State University,” said College of Arts and Sciences Dean Glen Krutz. He added that Mr. Pickens’ donation “created more generous chairs and professorships and incentivized donors to give, since they knew their named professorship would essentially be tripled.” Through it all, Mr. Pickens credited his mother for instilling in him the desire to help others. “For most of my adult life, I’ve believed that I was put on Earth to make money and be generous with it,” he wrote. 18 CONNECT 2020
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