SEC pays tribute to late former Commissioner Roy Kramer before conference title game

ATLANTA (AP) — The Southeastern Conference paid tribute to former Commissioner Roy Kramer, who died on Thursday at 96, before Saturday's SEC Championship Game between No. 3 Georgia and No. 10 Alabama.

Kramer, a Vanderbilt athletic director before his time guiding the SEC from 1990-2002, reshaped college football by dreaming up the precursor to today’s playoff system — the Bowl Championship Series. He also championed the SEC title game.

There was a moment of silence for Kramer, who was referred to as the “father of the bowl championship series,” before the game.

Vanderbilt athletic director Candice Storey Lee said Kramer’s leadership role in college athletics was unique.

“There are very few people who played as large a role in the growth of college athletics as Roy Kramer,” Lee said. “At Vanderbilt, he had the determination to dramatically improve facilities and support services for student-athletes and to support new women’s sports programs in the late 1970s and early 80s. As SEC commissioner, his vision for expanding the conference, creating the SEC championship game, and negotiating national television contracts set the pace across the NCAA.”

Lee said Kramer “was a highly influential administrator, but always a coach at heart. He loved student-athletes and the games themselves. As much as things changed in the business of sports, the people and the games were what mattered most to him.”

Former longtime Atlanta Journal-Constitution college football reporter Tony Barnhart told The Associated Press Kramer was “a true visionary” who played a crucial role in today's success of college football.

“That does not happen without the leadership of Roy Kramer," Barnhart said. "Championship Saturday did not exist until Roy Kramer created the SEC championship game. There was no championship playoff until he created the BCS in 1998. In a sport slow to change he moved college football forward through the sheer force of his will.”

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AP Sports Writer Teresa Walker contributed to this report.

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