One year later, Sutton doing well (TW)

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This was in the paper a couple of days ago - I thought it was a nice article about Eddie Sutton:

One year later, Sutton doing well

By BILL HAISTEN World Sports Writer

2/11/2007

Historians will record Feb. 10, 2006 as a date of infamy.

It was then that Eddie Sutton, intoxicated at a level police would later determine was nearly three times the legal driving limit, crashed his Dodge Durango on a Stillwater street.

Considering that he rolled at a 60 mph clip before rear-ending another vehicle and ramming a tree, Sutton was fortunate to emerge from the the wreckage with only cuts and bruises.

His coaching career did not survive.

He retired weeks later, leaving the game while being only two victories shy of becoming the fifth major-college men's coach to reach the 800-win mark.

Sutton apparently is not a historian. Until reminded, he said he was unaware of Saturday's significance -- that it was the first anniversary of the accident.

"I hadn't even thought about it," he said. "I knew it was about a year. The accident might have been God's plan to get me into something else."

Instead of reflecting on the terrible event of 2/10/06, the 70-year-old Sutton said his Saturday would be a Father's Day of sorts. He attended games involving both of his coaching sons.

After being courtside at Gallagher-Iba Arena, watching as Sean Sutton and the Cowboys defeated 

Texas Tech in double overtime, Eddie traveled to Tulsa, arriving at the Mabee Center just before tipoff of a contest matching Scott Sutton's Oral Roberts Golden Eagles and Southern Utah.

And during the course of the day, he also was able to spend time with each of his nine grandchildren -- three in Stillwater and six in Tulsa.

"Being a head coach for (46 seasons), I had some control over the game," Sutton said. "There was stress, but it wasn't that difficult. Now, sitting in the stands, watching my sons coach -- the stress is unbelievable."

Though retired from coaching, Sutton is a busy man. For Spirit Bank in Tulsa, he is vice chairman of the board of directors. On Tuesday mornings, he does a one-hour radio sports-talk segment for the Tulsa Sports Animal. He is also a consultant for the OSU Foundation. While being interviewed on Friday, he autographed Eddie Sutton bobblehead figures being sold to raise money for the Coaches vs. Cancer campaign.

Because he remains a member of the Nike coaching family, OSU continues to receive free shoes and apparel valued, Sutton says, between $75,000 and $100,000 a year.

His most prominent responsibility is to raise funds for the creation of a $5 million addiction recovery facility at Oklahoma State.

"Every campus should have one of these," Sutton said. "There is more alcohol and drug addiction today than ever before, and now there's another problem that has hit college campuses -- an addiction to gambling. These guys get online and start gambling, and it's amazing how many of them get hooked on it."

While coaching at Kentucky during the late '80s, Sutton sought treatment for a drinking problem. He recently admitted publicly that he began drinking again about three years before last year's accident. He attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in Stillwater and Tulsa. He speaks to students and others about the perils of alcohol abuse. On May 5, he pleaded no contest to aggravated drunken driving and was placed on probation for one year.

As the man who twice drove the Cowboys to the Final Four, Sutton's popularity does not seem to have waned.

"I'll go to a QuikTrip in Tulsa," he said, "and someone will pull out a camera phone and want me to take a picture with them. Happens all the time. I don't mind it at all."

Sutton recently received a letter from an OSU fan in southern Oklahoma. Sutton was asked to meet the man and his daughter at the Pistol Pete statue within Gallagher-Iba. The daughter wanted to be photographed with Sutton, and the Sutton agreed to do it. The photo was taken before Saturday's game.

When Sutton enters the arena, OSU students always greet him with the chant of "Ed-die! Ed-die!"

"Every time I hear it, I'm amazed," he said.

On 2/10/2006, Eddie Sutton was lucky to be alive.

Now, he is stabilized by sobriety. Surgery erased most of the persistent pain in his back.

On 2/10/2007, it can be written that Eddie Sutton is alive -- and well.