HOUSTON (AP) — High-profile legal battles are nothing new for Texas attorney Tony Buzbee, with his latest being a lawsuit he's filed against Jay-Z, accusing the iconic rapper as well as Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexually assaulting a minor at an awards show after-party in 2000.
The lawsuit against Jay-Z is part of a series of civil cases the Houston-based Buzbee has filed against Combs, who remains jailed in New York as he awaits trial on federal charges that he coerced and abused women for years.
In his legal career, Buzbee has represented a variety of clients. He helped acquit Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton at his impeachment trial in the Texas Senate last year. He represented more than two dozen women who accused Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson of sexual misconduct and assault. Buzbee has also made a couple of unsuccessful runs at elected office, including a bid to be Houston’s mayor.
His critics say he’s full of bluster and bombast. Jay-Z said the lawsuit against him is part of an extortion attempt. Buzbee's law firm has said he’s worked to amplify the voices of the marginalized and to “pursue justice against powerful figures.”
“We’re a society where we typically don’t believe the accuser. We blame the victim and by proxy we blame her lawyers,” Buzbee said during a March 2021 news conference.
Here’s what to know about Buzbee, his involvement in the lawsuits against Combs and what other cases he’s handled.
Buzbee is a well-known name in Texas courtrooms who has won billions of dollars in settlements for his clients.
He grew up in northeast Texas, the son of a butcher and a high school cafeteria worker. After graduating from Texas A&M University, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps. Buzbee later went to law school and founded his own firm.
His style is “characterized by his aggressive legal tactics, his ability to command media attention and his knack for turning complex legal battles into public narratives that resonate with juries and the public alike," according to his law firm's website.
Buzbee has said his firm is representing more than 150 people, both men and women, who allege sexual abuse and exploitation at the hands of Combs.
Buzbee's firm, which has set up a 1-800 number for accusers, has filed a wave of suits against the hip-hop mogul. Buzbee’s lawsuits allege that many of the people he represents were abused at parties in New York, California and Florida where individuals were given drinks that were laced with drugs.
Combs’ lawyers have dismissed Buzbee’s lawsuits as “shameless publicity stunts, designed to extract payments from celebrities who fear having lies spread about them, just as lies have been spread about Mr. Combs.”
On Sunday, Jay-Z issued a statement in which he accused Buzbee of trying to blackmail him by getting him to agree to a legal settlement over allegations he and Combs raped a woman when she was 13 years old.
“I have no idea how you have come to be such a deplorable human Mr. Buzbee, but I promise you I have seen your kind many times over,” Jay-Z said in his statement. “You claim to be a marine? Marines are known for their valor, you have neither honor nor dignity.”
Buzbee said in a Sunday Facebook post he “won't be bullied or intimidated.”
“Sunlight is the best disinfectant and I am quite certain the sun is coming," Buzbee said.
In 2009, his firm won a $100 million settlement for 10 workers who were sicked by a chemical release at a refinery in suburban Houston.
Buzbee has also represented politicians, including Paxton and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry in an abuse-of-power case.
In 2013, he settled lawsuits for 10 teenagers who had accused eccentric Texas millionaire Stanley Marsh 3 of paying them for sexual acts.
Buzbee has also settled lawsuits that he filed on behalf of 25 women who had accused Watson, when he was with the Houston Texans, of exposing himself, touching them with his genitals or kissing them against their will during massage appointments.
“I’ve handled some of the largest cases in this state,” Buzbee said during the 2021 news conference.
Follow Juan A. Lozano on X at https://x.com/juanlozano70
FILE - Jay-Z smiles ahead of the Champions League final soccer match between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid at Wembley stadium in London, Saturday, June 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
FILE - Attorney Tony Buzbee speaks in the Senate Chamber at the Texas Capitol, Friday, Sept. 15, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
CLEVELAND, Miss. (AP) — A sparse crowd drifted into Walter Sillers Coliseum for Delta State’s first women’s basketball game in 1973.
It was a 4 p.m. tipoff against Holmes Community College — announced only in the local paper in rural Cleveland, Mississippi. There were no tickets, no concessions or buzz. Just a handful of curious women's basketball fans with no clue what this team led by a former high school coach named Margaret Wade could be.
“We had no expectations because, see, the coach came from the high school, and she had never coached college ball," said Dot Bright, a 1962 Delta State graduate who still lives just a few blocks from the school. "So we thought, 'Oh, OK. It’s all in the family. We thought it was just little hometown people.”
What Bright and a few others saw that day was the beginning of something bigger. Within a couple of years, Delta State became one of women's basketball's early powerhouses. The Lady Statesmen were the first No. 1 team when the women's college basketball poll debuted 50 years ago and won three straight national championships in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) from 1975-1977.
The Lady Statesmen will be recognized during “The AP Top 25 Fan Poll Experience” being held Thursday-Saturday at Arizona State’s First Amendment Forum in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The poll has served as a road map for the rise of the sport, though a lot has changed since the NCAA took over in 1982.
The women's basketball spotlight has since shifted elsewhere as money reshaped the sports landscape and large programs with big budgets — like the powerhouses in this weekend’s Final Four including UConn and South Carolina — began to dominate.
In Cleveland, Delta States' rich legacy still resonates.
“People still support it," Delta State athletic director Mike Kinnison said. "While we’ve had some ups and downs with it, it’s still a good program. That's still very important to me that we keep that tradition and keep that history and heritage out front.”
Reminders of that history are scattered across Delta State's campus. The basketball court is named after coach Lloyd Clark, who led the program to three national titles in 1989, 1990 and 1992 after its move to the NCAA's Division II. The jerseys of star players including women's basketball pioneer Lusia Harris are hanging in the gym. A “Hall of Fame” room of photos and trophies is set up in the athletic building chronicling those dominant days.
Current Delta State women's basketball coach Tracy Stewart-Lange makes sure prospective players are aware of the program's legacy when they arrive on campus.
Stewart-Lange, who just led the Lady Statesmen to an 18-11 record in her fourth season, stops recruits by the stadium's concourse to see a replica of the Wade Trophy given each year to the best player in women's basketball, which is encased near the front door, as well as a display of Delta State's national championship trophies under Wade and Clark.
Even Delta State football coaches bring up Wade, Clark and Harris when selling recruits on the school.
“You try to give them little snippets of, ‘Guys, this is where you are now,’” Stewart-Lange said. “'Don’t take it for granted. Step into those shoes and shine and push it forward. Get it back to the top.'”
Wade, who had coached at nearby Cleveland High School years before taking over at Delta State ahead of the 1973 season, had a roster that included the future Hall of Famer, Harris, who became one of the greatest women's players ever.
But publicity was scarce that first year. Former sports information director Langston Rogers recalled that many local and regional papers mostly ran box scores — until the wins and crowds became impossible to ignore.
The Lady Statesmen went undefeated in 1974, upsetting Philadelphia powerhouse Immaculata to win the AIAW national title and quickly building national credibility with wins over teams like Ole Miss and Auburn. They eventually drew thousands to venues like Madison Square Garden and UCLA's Pauley Pavilion, a rarity in women's hoops during that time.
Demand at home far exceeded the 3,000-seat Walter Sillers Coliseum, so portable bleachers were brought in and students sat along stage railings to squeeze inside.
"Everybody in Cleveland knew us and knew our names," said Debbie Brock, starting point guard from 1974-78. “You would drive up to the Sonic — and we didn’t have many restaurants or anything then — but I’d go to the Sonic, and the man would say, ‘Great game tonight.’”
Kinnison, athletic director since 2019, is now trying to recapture those times.
After the NCAA replaced the AIAW as the governing body for women's college sports, Delta State and other small colleges faced a major challenge to stay competitive on a national scale.
Recruiting advantages and national media attention have since dwindled, and for a while it was hard to bring in the same caliber of coaches.
“People don’t jump up and down when they find out they’re moving to the Mississippi Delta,” Bright said. “It’s hard to recruit here. I think the coach we have now, Coach Lange, she is doing an awesome job ... We have a very good record this year, some of the best since Lloyd Clark.”
Bright, 82, still never misses a game — though they're much quieter than they were 50 years ago.
Stewart-Lange runs into people around the Cleveland area who talk of their memories from those days. That gives her hope that local support can still remain even as the national spotlight has faded.
“I do feel like the undercurrent is there within the community,” Stewart-Lange said. “It’s been done before. And it can be done again.”
AP Top 25 Fan Poll Experience: https://apnews.com/https:/apnews.com/projects/arizona-state-fan-poll-experience/
AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
FILE - Delta State center Lusia Harris, right, towers over Penn State's Mag Strittmatter, left, as she pulls down a rebound at Penn State in University Park, Pa., March 24, 1976. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Delta State University's Lusia Harris (45) gets off a shot against Queens College during a women's college basketball game at Madison Square Garden in New York, Feb. 23, 1976. (AP Photo/Ron Frehm, File)
Delta State women's basketball coach Tracy Stewart-Lange poses for a photo, Feb. 17, 2026, in Cleveland, Miss. (AP Photo/Alanis Thames)
The Delta State women's basketball locker room is seen, Feb. 17, 2026, in Cleveland, Miss. (AP Photo/Alanis Thames)
The Delta State basketball court is seen, Feb. 17, 2026, in Cleveland, Miss. (AP Photo/Alanis Thames)
