CLARK SUING OKLAHOMA STATE
Former Oklahoma State basketball player and Douglass High School standout Stevie Clark is suing the university, the Board of Regents for Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges, and Cowboys basketball coach Travis Ford.
Stevie Clark’s exit from Oklahoma State continues to reveal baggage.
The former OSU basketball player is suing the university, the Board of Regents for Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges, and Cowboys basketball coach Travis Ford on allegations that he was forced to take psychotropic drugs.
O’Colly.com, the website for the school’s student newspaper, The Daily O’Collegian, first reported the lawsuit.
In a petition filed Wednesday in Oklahoma County Court, Clark makes several claims, including:
• His teammates made him a scapegoat when marijuana was found in his dorm room.
• He was hazed by former OSU guard Marcus Smart.
• He was forced to take psychotropic drugs, which are medications used to affect the mind, emotions and behavior.
• Various promises were made regarding playing time and ensuring Clark made it to the next level.
• Ford promised Clark a Camaro.
Clark, a former Douglass High School star, was a top recruit of the Cowboys in 2013. But he ran into trouble early in his career and didn’t make it through his freshman season, ultimately dismissed during his second semester on campus.
Clark was suspended by Ford in December of 2013 and sent home from the Old Spice Classic in Florida for undisclosed reasons. He was arrested for possession of marijuana and booked into jail in Edmond in January of 2014, then dismissed in February following arrest on a complaint of “outraging public decency” in Stillwater when he was spotted by an officer urinating out of a moving vehicle driven by someone else.
Efforts to reach Ford on Friday failed, although the university did address Clark’s suit via statement.
“Oklahoma State University has reviewed Mr. Clark’s petition and his claims are completely and utterly baseless,” an OSU spokesman said in an email.
Clark intended to play at Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa, Iowa, but left that school in October of 2014. Clark also spent time with drug and alcohol recovery guru John Lucas in Houston, but didn’t make it to the end of the program.
Clark is represented by the law firm of Holloway, Bethea and Osenbaugh, based in Oklahoma City. A phone message left with the firm Friday was not returned.
Clark’s petition seeks actual and punitive damages in excess of $10,000 for violation of due process, assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, breach of fiduciary duty and negligence, according to court reports.
The case, which is pending, has been assigned to District Judge Barbara G. Swinton.