Former Vanderbilt Athletic Director Passes Away at 96

Roy Kramer was a Vanderbilt athletics Hall of Famer.

Former SEC commissioner Roy Kramer speaks during a dedication ceremony of the Doug Dickey Hall of Fame Plaza at the Neyland-Thompson Sports Complex in Knoxville, Tennessee on Friday, October 4, 2019. Dickey led UT to its second SEC title in 1969 and served as the Vols' Director of Athletics from 1986 to 2003. Doug Dickey | Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel, Knoxville News Sentinel via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Former Vanderbilt University athletic director and the sixth commissioner of the SEC, Roy Kramer, passed away at the age of 96 Thursday, it was announced by the Southeastern Conference in a press release sent Friday evening.

Kramer was the architect of the first conference championship game in NCAA athletics when Kramer helped to expand the SEC to 12 teams in 1992. The upcoming SEC Championship Game between No. 9 Alabama and No. 3 Georgia will be the 34th championship game in the conference.

"Roy Kramer was one of the true giants of our sport," National Football Foundation (NFF) Chairman Archie Manning said. "His vision, integrity, and steady leadership helped shape college football into what we know today. The game is better because Roy cared so deeply about its values, its people, and its future. All of us in college athletics stand on his shoulders, and we are profoundly grateful for his friendship and his example. We are deeply saddened to learn of his passing, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this time of loss."

Kramer graduated from Maryville College in Maryville, Tennessee in 1953. During his time in college, Kramer was a lineman on the Maryville football team and helped his team get to the first-ever Tangerine Bowl, which is known as the Citrus Bowl today. Kramer also served in the military to help the United States fight in the Korean War.

After his days of education, Kramer coached high school football in Michigan for nearly a decade before becoming the head coach of Central Michigan. Kramer coached the Chippewas for 11 seasons where he piled up a record of 83-32-2. In 1974, he coached Central Michigan to a Division II National Championship and was named the NCAA National Coach of the Year.

Four years later, Kramer became the athletic director at Vanderbilt University, where he oversaw the development of the school’s athletic department for 12 years. In 1990, Kramer became the sixth commissioner of the SEC, where he helped add South Carolina and Arkansas to the conference and created the SEC Championship Game.

Kramer was also the founder and chairman of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), the system that determined which teams played in the national title game in college football as well as helping build the foundation of today’s College Football Playoff system.

In 2023, Kramer’s career of leadership and coaching was honored when he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Kramer has also been entered into the Central Michigan Athletics Hall of Fame in 1987, the Vanderbilt athletics Hall of Fame in 2008, the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2003. The Roy F. Kramer Award is named in Kramer’s honor, and is given to the Men’s and Women’s SEC Athlete of the Year.

"I was honored to serve alongside Roy as a fellow commissioner and to collaborate with him on so many important issues," NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell said. "His vision, his toughness, and the thoughtful guidance he offered all of us made him an extraordinary leader and an even better friend. Roy was a wonderful man whose influence on our sport will live on for generations."