Former SEC commissioner and Vanderbilt athletic director Roy Kramer died on Thursday at the age of 96.
Kramer was the 6th commissioner of the SEC and a pioneer in college sports. He was the architect of the first league championship game in NCAA Division I-A history following the SEC’s expansion to 12 teams in 1992. Kramer passed away just 2 days before the 34th SEC Championship Game, which will be played on Saturday between Alabama and Georgia.
The SEC put out a heartfelt statement on Kramer’s passing on Friday afternoon.
“The SEC mourns the passing of Roy Kramer, who served as the 6th commissioner of the Southeastern Conference as well as athletics director at Vanderbilt University. Our condolences to his family and many friends all across college sports,” the SEC statement said.
Current SEC commissioner Greg Sankey also put out a statement on Kramer’s passing that read, in part:
“Roy Kramer will be remembered for his resolve through challenging times, his willingness to innovate in an industry driven by tradition, and his unwavering belief in the value of student-athletes and education,” Sankey said.
Kramer was born on Oct. 30, 1929, in Maryville, Tenn. He graduated from Maryville College in his hometown, was a star lineman on the Maryville football team and also was a wrestler. Kramer was heroic in his service for the SEC and long before that for his country, as he was called to serve in the Koren War during his senior year at Maryville, which delayed his graduation. After serving his country and graduating from Maryville in 1953, Kramer earned his master’s degree from Michigan in 1954.
He became the athletic director at Vanderbilt in 1978, spending 12 years there and revamping the school’s athletic programs. But that was only the start of his service to the SEC. Kramer was the SEC commissioner from 1990-2002, overseeing the conference during its expansion from 10 to 12 schools, with South Carolina and Arkansas joining the league.
And, of course, he created football’s SEC Championship Game, which will be staged once again on Saturday in Atlanta.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
