Some college buddies remain friends forever. That's certainly been the case for oilmen T. Boone Pickens and Sherman Smith.
They were Sigma Epsilon fraternity brothers and friends while attending Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, in the late 1940s and remain close. So close, in fact, that Mr. Pickens' hedge fund company, BP Capital Management LP, Dallas, will manage the $20 million donation Mr. Smith just made to OSU to support a proposed multipurpose indoor practice athletic facility. Investment income from Mr. Smith's gift will be used to maintain the facility, said Mike Holder, OSU's director of athletics and vice president for athletic programs.
The new building — named after Mr. Sherman — will go up across the street from Boone Pickens Stadium in OSU's athletic village, according to an OSU news release.
The long-time friends, who are fierce fans of OSU sports, rank numbers one and two, respectively, on the list of OSU's largest private donors, according to the release.
Mr. Smith founded and later sold Tulsa-based Service Drilling Co., according to a published report.
