Norman, Oklahoma
TULSA COUNTY (WBAP/KLIF News) – The son of former Dallas Cowboys star Jay Novacek filed a lawsuit against a fraternity at the University of Oklahoma claiming he suffered a brain injury after being hit in the head with a baseball bat during a hazing incident.
Blake Novacek was a freshman pledging Beta Theta Pi’s Gamma Phi chapter when the alleged hazing occurred in the fall of 2015.
According to the lawsuit, filed September 29th in Tulsa County, Novacek claims that in the early-morning hours of October 11th, he and other pledges were called to the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house as part of the an initiation ritual.
It claims that almost 100 current and alumni were waiting at the house.
As part of the initiation process, Beta Theta members were required to memorize certain fraternity information or “pledge facts.”
The lawsuit states that a pillowcase was placed over Novacek’s head and he was taken to a fraternity members room to be asked about the pledge facts.
It claims that when he was unable to remember some of the facts, an intoxicated fraternity brother hit him in the stomach with a baseball bat causing him to fall backward and hit his head on a hard object.
The next morning, he woke up on a couch in the fraternity house and his clothes had been washed and placed beside him.
Novacek alleges that he was later confronted by a fraternity member and was threatened with a ruined reputation, damage to property or expulsion from school if he told anyone about the hazing.
Several months later, Novacek met with the pledge class president who asked him not to filed a complaint about the incident.
According to the lawsuit, Novacek agreed to stay silent but his car was vandalized the next day anyway.
The lawsuit accuses the fraternity of reckless behavior, negligence, physical pain and suffering and severe emotional distress.
Novacek and his attorneys are seeking more than $150,000 in damages.
The Beta Theta Pi Corporation of Oklahoma is denying the allegations.
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