Seven months after an alcohol-related automobile accident provided the final chapter to his basketball coaching career, Sutton spoke to an estimated 1,500 Oklahoma State students about the dangers of alcohol.

Speaking on the lawn in front of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity Tuesday evening, Sutton, in his first official public speaking appearance since the accident, addressed the dangers of alcoholism. He also asked students to help him raise money for an addiction center to be constructed on campus.

“I won a lot of games, but in this business I feel I can save a lot of lives,” Sutton said. “That’s a lot bigger. After I came out publicly that I admitted I was intoxicated - not that it was a reason, but I was in such pain, I had back problems - I think God might have intervened.

“He said, ‘You’ve coached long enough. Now I want you to go out and do something that’s really worth while.’”

Sutton, 70, warned of potential pitfalls of alcohol. He told students a story he heard at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Sutton said an OSU student, driving intoxicated on State Highway 51, struck a co-ed’s car and killed her.

The OSU student spent six months in the county jail and another five years in the state prison in McAlester before being released on 15 years probation.

“His life was changed forever,” Sutton said. “When he told that story he had everybody in the audience crying. Here was a young man that was so talented ... He said, ‘My whole life was ruined just by that one mistake.’ If you drink, do it in a responsible manner.”

Sutton was fortunate to avoid a similar fate Feb. 10 when he caused an accident, striking a woman’s vehicle. Sutton later pleaded no contest to an aggravated driving under the influence charge.

During his 30-minute speech, Sutton encouraged students to become involved in a Stillwater church while away from home and warned that gambling and drug addiction also have severe consequences that will be treated in an OSU addiction center once its constructed.

Sutton no longer works for the university but is connected to the OSU Foundation, which will collect donations for his project. He said he knows of only two or three universities in the country that currently have addiction centers. OSU has only one counselor for addiction-related problems.

“That’s ridiculous,” said Sutton, who coached college basketball for 36 years. “We need 12 or 15 of them. We need a building where college students can come in a relaxed manner and discuss why they drink or take drugs. And they need grants and aids. A lot of times when you become an addict you don’t have the finances. We need scholarships for these people to help them in recovery and go on and get their degree.”

When he was hired at OSU, his alma mater, in 1990, Sutton confessed he went through an alcohol treatment program in 1987 at the Betty Ford Center. After his speech to the students, he was asked how difficult it’s been to battle alcoholism the past 20 years.

“I don’t think the losses ever triggered anything as far as having a relapse,” Sutton said. “It could be sickness, a death in somebody’s family, a lot of things. I’d go out for a couple of days and have some drinks, but then I’d get back on track.

“There would be periods where I’d go eight months, 10 months (without a drink). It’s an everyday battle. That’s why when you go to AA they talk about one day at a time. That’s why I get so concerned for young people.”

Stillwater Police Chief Norm McNickle and Payne County District Attorney Rob Hudson also spoke at the event, which was geared toward OSU’s Greek houses but open to anyone. Students were informed of some shocking numbers:

Each year 1,400 students die in alcohol-related accidents; 500,000 are injured and there are 70,000 sexual assaults or date rapes in which alcohol is involved.