BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Roy Kramer, who served as the sixth commissioner of the Southeastern Conference as well as athletic director at Vanderbilt University, passed away Thursday at the age of 96.
Kramer was a pioneer in the world of college athletics whose vision and leadership helped shape a new era for college sports. Among his many accomplishments, he was the architect of the first conference championship game in NCAA Division I-A history, after the SEC expanded to 12 teams in 1992. Kramer died two days before the SEC is to play the 34th game in the history of that championship event.
Born on Oct. 30, 1929, in Maryville, Tennessee, Kramer’s lifelong devotion to the game of football began early and carried him from high-school sidelines to the highest echelons of collegiate sports leadership.
Kramer graduated from Maryville (Tenn.) College, and he was a standout lineman on the football team as well as a wrestler. He played in the inaugural Tangerine Bowl (now the Citrus Bowl) on Jan. 1, 1947, as a freshman for Maryville.
During his senior year at Maryville, he was called to serve during the Korean War, delaying his graduation. After his service and graduation from Maryville in 1953, Kramer earned his master’s degree with a double major in history and education from Michigan in 1954.
After nearly a decade coaching Michigan high-school teams, where his squads won three state championships, Kramer was named head coach at Central Michigan. In his 11 seasons leading the Chippewas, Kramer compiled an 83-32-2 (.718) record. In 1974, Kramer was named NCAA National Coach of the Year after guiding the Chippewas to a 12-1 record and the Division II national championship. In addition to the 1974 national title, Kramer twice led the Chippewas to IIAC titles in 1967 and 1968.
In 1978, he became athletic director at Vanderbilt University, where over 12 years he revitalized the school’s athletic program, overseeing major facility upgrades, merging men’s and women’s athletic departments, and shepherding Vanderbilt into a more modern era of campus athletics.
But it was as commissioner of the Southeastern Conference that Kramer’s influence resonated nationwide. Under his leadership from 1990-2002, the SEC expanded from 10 to 12 schools with the addition of South Carolina and Arkansas, and he created the SEC Football Championship Game.
Kramer was also the architect and founding chairman of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), which for years determined the national champion in college football and laid the groundwork for what would become the modern playoff system. In addition, he negotiated a ground-breaking multi-sport national over-the-air broadcast agreement with CBS that set the standard for conferences nationwide.
Kramer was honored in many ways for the leadership and service he provided during his remarkable career, including most recently being named to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2023. Kramer has also been inducted into the Central Michigan Athletics Hall of Fame (1987); the Vanderbilt Athletics Hall of Fame (2008 as an inaugural member); the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame (1989); and the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame (2003). He has been awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award (2008), the NCFAA Contribution to College Football Award (2011), and the Duffy Daugherty Award (2013). The Men’s and Women’s SEC Athlete of the Year Award is presented annually as the Roy F. Kramer Award in his honor, and the NFF presented him its Distinguished American Award in 1998.
Kramer was married for 62 years to his beloved Sara Jo, who passed away in 2013, and they had three children, Steve, Sara Gray and Jane, in addition to six grandchildren.
