Roy Kramer, recently retired commissioner of the Southeastern Conference and former chair of the Bowl Championship Series committee, will speak at the 2002 State Farm Student-Athlete Excellence Banquet on October 27 at Redbird Arena at Illinois State University.
The excellence banquet honors Redbird student-athletes, who have excelled in scholarship over the past year, including all members of the AFNI Athletics Honor Roll. Each honored student-athlete is accompanied by a faculty or staff member who has been instrumental in his or her academic development. State Farm Insurance Companies sponsor the banquet as part of its continuing commitment to strengthening education and recognizing leadership.
Kramers leadership imprint is on many of the most significant changes in intercollegiate athletics during his 11 years with the Southeastern Conference. Changes in conference make-up was at the forefront when Kramer took over SEC leadership in 1990 and his conference welcomed Arkansas and South Carolina at that time. That led to division play for all sports, most significantly football, as the SEC played the first Division I-A conference football championship game. The changing bowl picture also found Kramer and the SEC leading the way, as he negotiated post-season bowl agreements to accommodate several SEC teams each year.
The 12-team, two-division SEC also brought scheduling challenges, but Kramer managed to conquer those even even as he was securing multi-sport national television packages with CBS and ESPN to include football, mens basketball and womens basketball, while locking in the SECs strong syndicated regional television pact with partner Jefferson-Pilot through 2009.
Kramers ground breaking national work with NCAA football and basketball coincided with his term as SEC commissioner. Serving as chair of the 1992 NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament Committee, he also served on the committee which negotiated a landmark seven-year, $1 billion contract with CBS Sports.
Perhaps the most widely-recognized aspect of Kramer's career was the historic creation of the Bowl Championship Series. He served as coordinator for the series from 1995 to 1999, a period which saw the BSC establish itself as the vehicle for crowning a national champion in Division I-A football on the field as a result of a championship game. The BSC accomplished its goal while maintaining a decades-long tradition of post-season college football bowl games.
"During Roy Kramer's career, he has been involved in some landmark efforts to elevate intercollegiate athletics," said Illinois State Director of Athletics Perk Weisenburger. "But, at the heart of all of his efforts has been his dedication to and appreciation for the student-athlete. It's great to be able to have him speak at this event, and we are grateful to State Farm for making that possible."
Kramer, a native Midwesterner who began his career as a prep coach in Michigan, knows first hand the challenge of balancing high academic standards with intercollegiate athletics achievement. From 1978 to 1990, he was athletics director at Vanderbilt University, the only private school in the SEC, leading the Commodore program to high levels of athletic achievement while enhancing its image as a national leader in academics. Kramer also led campaigns to elevate Vanderbilt's athletics facilities, with the opening of a new football stadium and athletics complex.
His service and committee work includes dealing with issues like revenue distribution, rules infractions and drug testing policies. Again, his signature committee role may have been as a member of the NCAA Select Committee to Study Intercollegiate Athletics, which led to the creation of the NCAA President's Commission to oversee governance of the organization.
Tickets for the banquet are available to the general public for $25 and must be purchased in advance by calling (309) 438-3639. The deadline for ticket purchases is October 18.
