Boone Pickens honored Wednesday in GIA

Oklahoma State mega-fan and ultra-booster T. Boone Pickens was honor Wednesday afternoon in Gallagher-Iba Arena.

STILLWATER -- On Wednesday afternoon in the place he once tried to play basketball for the great Henry Iba, T. Boone Pickens was honored by the people and place he loved the most, Oklahoma State.

"I guess we shed all the tears last week, probably not all of them, but a lot of them last week," said athletic director Mike Holder. "So, today's about celebrating, remembering all the good times and all the great things he did for us. It's kind of ironic, he tried to play basketball here and I don't know who it was, but someone told him couldn't run fast enough to scatter leaves, so he thought maybe he ought to try something else. So, that has significance being in this building and then obviously right next door to the palace that he built. So, it's a big day."

There's no doubt that the life of Boone Pickens was celebrated Wednesday afternoon. The Oklahoma State faithful made their way to GIA to honor the man that was larger than life itself. In attendance on stage to speak was Oklahoma State Supreme Court Justice Steven Taylor, the Governor of Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State alumnus Kevin Stitt, Oklahoma State alumna and donor Anne Greenwood, head coach Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State president Burns Hargis and Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder.

There were also several touching tribute videos that played at various parts of the celebration. You can view one of them here.

Athletic director Mike Holder spoke with the media ahead of the event to discuss the life of Boone Pickens and what he meant not just to the university and Oklahoma State Athletics, but also to himself.

"I'm apprehensive about the part I have to play in this because it's pretty overwhelming when you start talking about someone that's like a father to you."

I think that says it all, a father figure. There's no doubt that Boone was larger than life, and at times had more money than most people alive. Personally, I never had the chance to meet Boone as his health started became an issue and had stopped traveling to football games once I started covering Oklahoma State.

But the overall theme that surrounds Boone Pickens is how generous, kind, compassionate, fiercely competitive and hard working and loyal and true he was. Over his lifetime, Boone donated well over a billion dollars in his lifetime and that caused other people to donate as well.

He's not only changed the course of Oklahoma State academics and athletics by donating over $600 million throughout the years, but he's impacted every student that comes through Stillwater and goes out into the world to make a difference just as he set out to do.