The SEC is morning the passing of former commissioner Mike Slive, who died on Wednesday in Birmingham at age 77.

On Friday, the SEC’s most popular personality, Paul Finebaum, got a chance to pay tribute to Slive at his funeral. He had plenty of touching moments, and plenty of laughs.

Here were some of the highlights of Finebaum’s speech:

“Mike Slive didn’t leave anything to chance. That’s now how he lived, and it worked to perfection. That’s not to say he was perfect, but he was pretty damn close.”

“One of the things that resonated most with me — and perhaps the most accurate — was that he was one of the most powerful people in sports, yet one of the nicest.”

“…Telling Lane Kiffin to shut the blank up even brought a smile to Nick Saban’s face.”

“I’ve always felt his most surprising victory as commissioner was getting me hired at the SEC Network. Mike visited with each one of the anxious SEC athletic directors, pressing upon the importance, saying it would differentiate the SEC from everyone else. When it came time for the ADs to be heard, the vote was 13-1 against me. Of course, Mike broke the tie and I was hired.”

Here’s the video of Finebaum (via AL.com):