Life Insurance Policies To Fund Oklahoma State Athletics

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Texas Tech athletic director Gerald Myers says he's spoken with Oklahoma State officials about a unique fundraising program for athletic departments. <br/><br/>Using an idea from

Thursday, March 1st 2007, 9:41 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Texas Tech athletic director Gerald Myers says he's spoken with Oklahoma State officials about a unique fundraising program for athletic departments.

Using an idea from billionaire donor Boone Pickens, Oklahoma State will purchase $10 million life insurance policies for 25 of its supporters as a fundraising method.

Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder said he believes the ``Gift of a Lifetime'' program is the largest such use of life insurance ever by a college athletic department. The Stillwater university will pay the insurance premiums for the selected donors, with the athletics department be listed as the beneficiary.

Holder says that the money from the policies will be used to endow athletic scholarships and pay for facilities and operations.

Myers says he's also run the idea past people in the insurance business and others at the University of Texas. But he hadn't come to any conclusions yet.

Pickens is the founder of Dallas-based energy investment fund BP Capital. He has given more than $250 million to Oklahoma State, his alma mater, in recent years.