Roy Kramer, former SEC commissioner and architect of first conference championship game, dies at 96

Roy Kramer, the transformative former commissioner of the SEC and a championship-winning college football coach, has died. He was 96. Few figures in modern college athletics shaped the landscape as profoundly as Kramer. When he took over the SEC in 1990, he immediately began steering the league into a new era -- expanding membership, reshaping competition formats and securing TV agreements that helped turn the conference into a national powerhouse. 

Within months of assuming the role, he shepherded Arkansas and South Carolina into the league, laying the foundation for divisional play and a football championship game that became a model for conferences across the country.

Under Kramer's stewardship, SEC programs soared. The league captured 81 national titles during his tenure, and its financial growth accelerated at an unprecedented pace with revenue distributions climbing into record-setting territory. Kramer also negotiated extensive multi-sport television packages with CBS and ESPN that carried the conference well into the 2000s. His influence later extended beyond the SEC as he played a central role in forming the Bowl Alliance and helping create the Bowl Championship Series, the system that preceded the College Football Playoff.

"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," SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement. "His legacy is not merely in championships or commissioner's decisions, but in a lifetime devoted to lifting student-athletes and believing in the power of sport to shape the lives of young people. Though he stepped away from formal roles years ago, the foundations he built, on campuses within the SEC and across college sports, will resonate for generations to come."

Before his administrative rise, Kramer built a distinguished coaching résumé. After successful stints leading high school programs in Michigan -- where his teams claimed three state championships -- he moved to the college ranks at Central Michigan. Promoted to head coach in 1967, he spent 11 seasons guiding the Chippewas, posting an 83-32-2 (.718) record and capturing the 1974 Division II national title, a year that earned him national coach of the year honors.

Kramer transitioned to athletic administration at Vanderbilt in 1978, spending 12 years modernizing facilities, elevating the school's presence as a host site for the SEC basketball tournament and first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament while becoming an influential voice within the conference. His work in Nashville propelled him to the SEC's top job in 1990, where he remained until 2002.

Across a career that spanned coaching, campus leadership and national policy, Kramer served on numerous NCAA committees and received some of the sport's highest honors -- including the National Football Foundation's Distinguished American Award in 1998.