'Mad Men' Star Jon Hamm Became 'Mad' in 1990, Says Fraternity Hazing Victim

Just as the final season of "Mad Men" started airing on AMC, an incident that happened in 1990 has been unearthed and it is not painting lead actor Jon Hamm in the best of lights.

Based on the records (none of which were sealed), Hamm was involved in a violent fraternity hazing incident at the University of Texas that led to the filing of criminal charges against him and the permanent disbanding of the Sigma Nu fraternity.

According to the lawsuit, the pledge, Mark Allen Sanders, said Hamm became "mad, I mean really mad" after Sanders, 20, failed to recite things he was supposed to have memorized for Hamm and the other members. Sanders said Hamm set his jeans on fire, shoved his face in dirt and struck him with a paddle.

"He rears back and hits me left-handed, and he hit me right over my right kidney, I mean square over it," Sanders said in the lawsuit. "Good solid hit and that, that stood me right up."

Sanders said he needed medical care and left school as a result of the beating he got from Hamm. Court records show the lawsuit was dismissed in 1993. Neither Sanders nor his former attorney has responded to the resurfacing of this case.

Police records show that Hamm, now 44, was charged with hazing and received deferred adjudication, which under Texas law means he had to successfully complete probation but was never convicted. A separate charge of assault was dismissed. Four other fraternity members were charged and pleaded no contest to misdemeanor hazing charges. The Sigma Nu chapter was shut down and never reopened on campus.

University records show that Hamm left after the semester in which the hazing incident took place. In an interview with W Magazine back in 2008, Hamm said he left school in his sophomore year after his father died and he returned to his home state of Missouri.

Neither Hamm nor his rep has made any official comment on the matter.

There are talks going around, however, that Hamm can use this as an opportunity to come clean and be an advocate against bullying. The life that the public know about him seems to indicate that he has "outgrown" his wild fraternity past, showbiz commentators say. He now appears to be a well-behaved star, still with the same woman after 18 years, very down-to-earth, and even responsible enough to check into rehab when his alcohol issues became too hard to control, they point out.

While other celebrities have admitted to being bullied in their childhood, saying no to bullying may resonate more effectively if it came from a former rehabilitated bully, as Hamm seems to be. He could also speak out against the fraternity system and hazing as a whole, the commentators say.