These are tough times for Tom Kivisto, and that saddens me because Kivisto fills a unique niche in Kansas University athletics.

Kivisto is the only KU athlete in my memory who was booed repeatedly on the basketball floor, yet years later donated millions of dollars to his alma mater.

Kivisto, who was removed last week as president and CEO of his Tulsa-based energy company, came to KU as a highly touted point guard out of a suburban Chicago high school.

Freshmen weren’t eligible in those days, so Kivisto debuted with much preseason fanfare as a sophomore. When that team struggled to an 11-15 record, Kivisto often was booed in Allen Fieldhouse when he had the ball, which, of course, was often because he was the point guard.

Kivisto heard even more jeers the next season when the Jayhawks tumbled to an 8-18 record. In fact, no one would have blamed Kivisto if he had transferred, yet he doggedly returned for his senior season and – wouldn’t you know it? – had the last laugh.

In 1974, Kivisto was captain of the KU team that staged the biggest one-season turnaround in school history, rising from the ashes of the school’s worst record in the modern era to a berth in the NCAA Final Four.

Can Kivisto do it again? Can he resurface as a major player in the energy business after last week’s downfall? Only time will tell, of course, but on the surface it appears his current situation makes that 8-18 season look like an NCAA championship year.

The surprising revelation of the struggles of SemGroup, the company Kivisto founded in 2000, sent shock waves through Tulsa, where Kivisto and his wife, Julie, have been heavily involved in philanthropy.

At the same time, Kivisto’s removal from company operations had to send tremors through Kansas Athletics Inc. because most of Kivisto’s hay hasn’t reached the barn.

About three years ago, the Kivistos announced they would donate $12 million to the KU athletic department, with $10 million ticketed to help construct the new football complex and the other $2 million slated for other projects and programs.

How much of that $12 million actually has reached KU coffers is open to conjecture. Kansas Athletics Inc. isn’t talking, but the Tulsa World newspaper speculated that the Kivistos have donated only a quarter of that nut.

Whether Kansas Athletics Inc. ever will see the other $8 million is open to conjecture, but Monday’s news that two creditors have taken control of SemGroup isn’t a good sign.

Nearly two years ago, KU recognized the Kivisto gift by naming the playing surface at Memorial Stadium in his honor, making him perhaps the only former college basketball player to have a college football field named after him.

It seems impossible that in these days of high gasoline prices that an energy company based primarily on the delivery of crude oil could be facing a financial crisis.

No one knows what went wrong with SemGroup. The Tulsa newspaper speculated about heavy acquisitions, capital spending and liquidity requirements of its hedging program.

Whatever the cause, I sure hope there’s some Phoenix left in Tom Kivisto.