Sherman Smith gives $20 million gift to fund OSU practice facility

Thursday, January 11th 2007, 12:20 pm

By: News On 6

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) _ Sherman Smith, a former fraternity brother of renowned Oklahoma State booster Boone Pickens, donated $20 million to the university Thursday for a proposed indoor practice facility that will bear his name.

The proposed $50 million multi-purpose indoor facility will be the size of a soccer field and have a 90-foot-high clearance. Many sports, including football, baseball, softball and track, will use the facility.

``This is a special gift serving Oklahoma State athletics,'' athletics director Mike Holder said. ``An important part of dramatically improving our athletic facilities, this gift continues the momentum that has been established at OSU.''

Smith, who completed a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering at Oklahoma State in 1948, and Pickens were Sigma Epsilon fraternity brothers at the university in the late 1940s. Pickens donated $165 million _ the largest gift to an athletic program in NCAA history _ last January toward the university's construction of an athletic village, which will include the practice facility.

Smith's gift is the second largest gift in Oklahoma State history.

``We've been friends, fraternity brothers and business partners. I have the utmost respect for Sherman and his family, and I'm grateful that they are stepping up in such a major way to continue the progress we're making in ensuring that OSU is competitive at all levels nationally,'' said Pickens, a 1951 geology graduate who has donated about $250 million to the university in recent years.

``Their show of support will encourage other alumni to step forward in the months and years ahead. This is clearly a new day for OSU.''

Smith, who founded and later sold Tulsa's Service Drilling Co., previously has donated at least $5 million to OSU athletics, including a $1.5 million donation two years ago. Pickens and Smith gave a combined $3 million for a new football turf, new practice fields and upgrades in the locker rooms and strength and conditioning facility.

John Houck, OSU vice president of capital development, said last fall the indoor facility project would take ``18 to 24 months'' to build.

``This is a far-reaching donation that will benefit every athletic program and every student-athlete,'' said Craig Clemons, Vice President of Athletic Development. ``The facility will allow for practice regardless of the outdoor conditions.''

Pickens' and Smith's donations dwarf the $11.7 million Oklahoma State spent on sports facilities over three decades from the mid-1960s through 1999, when OSU began a $56 million renovation of Gallagher-Iba Arena.

``A lot of people talk to me about the pressure involved with everything that's coming in here,'' football coach Mike Gundy said. ``There's pressure on us whether we have any facilities or not.''