Why was Jon Hamm arrested? When ‘Mad Men’ star played a key role in vicious fraternity hazing scandal
AUSTIN, TEXAS: ‘Mad Men’ star Jon Hamm got married to Anna Osceola on Saturday, June 24, nearly eight years after they crossed paths while filming the finale of the hit AMC series. It is the same show that helped Hamm achieve worldwide acclaim for his iconic portrayal of Don Draper. However, several years before Hamm rose to fame and became a Golden Globe Award winning Hollywood star, he was arrested for his involvement in a vicious hazing incident
Mark Allen Sanders, a brilliant honors student once revealed that Hamm was charged for attacking him as part of a sadistic hazing ritual at the Sigma Nu fraternity at the University of Texas in Austin back in 1990. Sanders alleged that Hamm was one of the Sigma Nu brothers who tortured and humiliated him during his time as a young pledge. The man reportedly withdrew from the university due to the attack and had to seek counseling before a police investigation disbanded the fraternity chapter.
What did Jon Hamm do?
Ahead of the release of the 2015 ‘Mad Men’ finale, Star Magazine published a story which revealed that Hamm was involved in a brutal hazing incident in 1990. A 1991 interview transcript obtained by the Daily Mail showed Sanders telling investigators at the Travis County's Attorney's Office how about facing “repeated beatings and assaults” at the hands of Sigma Nu “actives” at the University of Texas.
Sanders alleged that he and his fellow pledges were subjected to “repeated confinements” in a series of tiny compartments carved into the frat building's foundations, known as “the pit,” “the hole” and “the grave.” He accused Hamm of being one of the seven Sigma Nu brothers who took part in tormenting them and said that his worst hazing experience happened on November 10, 1990 when he was summoned to the house in the early hours to receive a warning by Hamm.
“‘It’s going to be a long night,’” the-then future actor allegedly told Sanders before putting him through two hours of brutal physical attacks as part of his baptism into the fraternity. Sanders listed Hamm as one of his chief tormentors and said that the actor ordered him to recite a six-page list of phrases that pledges are told to memorize called the “bullsh*t list.”
Sanders alleged that when he forgot the last of Hamm’s nicknames, which included “MC Hammer” and “Young Bobby,” the ‘Mad Men’ star got “mad, I mean really mad.” He accused Hamm and his fraternity friends of repeatedly spanking him with a paddle. “I'm hurting bad, I mean being hit right where the kidney is, it's killing me,” Sanders reportedly said. He then alleged that Hamm and another fraternity member lifted him up by his underwear and pulled it back and forth in a sawing motion.
“I don't know how far underwear stretches, I don't know how far I was off the ground. I was hurting really bad and I remember I was looking up at the ceiling and I was gritting my teeth and squinting my eyes ... it was sawing and it was hurting,” Sanders recalled. The latter told investigators that Hamm then led him to “the pit” and ordered him to do press-ups before pushing his face into the ground. Sanders claimed he then felt an individual, possibly Hamm, standing on his back.
He further accused Hamm of allegedly setting fire to his pants and refusing to let him pat the flames down, instead ordering him to blow out the fire. Sanders said he was eventually led upstairs to the “party room” where Hamm allegedly hooked the claw of a hammer underneath his testicles and pulled him around the room “for at least a minute.” After the tormenting hazing attack, Sanders fled to a friend’s room to escape his attackers and eventually showed his extensive bruises to fellow students.
Sanders later alleged that he suffered nerve damage to his ribs, kidney spasms and a lineal spinal fracture due to the attack. His mother allegedly reported the incident to authorities, prompting a police investigation that led to the fraternity permanently closing its University of Texas chapter. University records showed Hamm left the college without a degree at the end of the semester and returned to his hometown in Missouri.
Where is Mark Allen Sanders now?
Sanders was reportedly a senior student at Richland High School in North Richland Hills, Texas, and excelled in his studies before his time at the University of Texas. He also played basketball as part of his school’s team and was a treasurer of his school council. In the wake of his hazing accident, Sanders resumed his education at Texas Christian University before going on to study both law and medicine at other institutions.
He went on to become a doctor and an attorney specializing in medical malpractice and personal injury. Later in life, Sanders moved to Fort Worth with his wife Anada and their two children. He has reportedly declined to speak publicly about the hazing incident in recent years but the disturbing details of the ordeal are available in court documents from more than two decades ago.
Was Jon Hamm arrested?
Hamm, who was a sophomore at the time of the incident, was identified as a ringleader and finally arrested in 1993, as per the Daily Mail. Following the hazing attack, Sanders filed a lawsuit against Sigma Nu Fraternity seeking “unspecified actual and exemplary damages for wilful and wanton misconduct.” The suit was reportedly dismissed in 1993 with the agreement of both parties, possibly hinting at an out-of-court settlement.
The Austin Police Department reportedly arrested Hamm that same year but according to court documents, the actor received deferred adjudication in 1995 which allowed him to avoid a criminal conviction by serving a probation period. Three other Sigma Nu members also pleaded no contest to charges of hazing — a misdemeanour — and were ordered to serve 15 to 30 days in jail.
The members were eventually allowed to complete a community service or work-release program instead of prison time. Another member was later convicted of a lesser hazing violation and fined $500. A warrant for Hamm’s arrest was first issued in 1992 but the charges were dismissed after he reached a plea deal with authorities in 1995. An assault charge against the actor was also dismissed after he agreed to complete a period of probation instead of receiving a conviction for hazing. A friend close to Hamm previously told Star Magazine, “The hazing incident was an isolated incident in Jon's life. Since then, he's been strong enough to take steps to make himself a better person.”