Memories Of Greatness
June 20, 2002
By Dan Mazei, sports information assistant
Visionary. Mastermind. Genius.
These are but a few of the words used over the years to describe the indelible greatness of Roy Kramer.
In his nearly five-decade career, Kramer amassed 141 coaching victories, captured four championships, made a school into a contender, turned a conference into an empire, and forever changed the face of collegiate athletics.
After accomplishing so much, isolating a single success in Kramer's career is like isolating a single down in a football season.
Despite this, Kramer has no difficulty remembering his 11-year "stop" at Central Michigan University, where he served as the head football coach from 1967-77.
"CMU gave me the chance to move into intercollegiate athletics," Kramer said. "I had been a high school coach for years, but Central gave me the opportunity to learn the responsibilities at a different level."
During his time at the helm, Kramer established himself as one of the most successful coaches in CMU history, compiling an 83-32-2 overall record and putting the Chippewa football program on the map. In 1974, he guided the squad to a 12-1 season, capturing the "National Coach of the Year" award and the 1974 Division II National Championship.
"It would be hard not to say that the 1974 championship was one of my greatest memories at CMU," Kramer said. "That was certainly a highlight, but there were others. The Illinois State homecoming game was definitely a great memory, with all of the excitement surrounding that. Joining the Mid-American Conference was an important thing for the university and myself, as well."
Kramer also remembers the valuable experiences he gained off the field in his days at CMU.
"I think you learn life lessons in everything you," Kramer said, "but one thing CMU had when I was there was a very positive sense of background- of community- of pride. That was a great feeling, and it made it that much easier for me and for everyone around me.
"I made a lot of ties when I was there. I was fortunate enough to come in when the 'old guard' was still there. People like Dan Rose, Lyle Bennett and Bill Kelly- all great people that I met and got to know while at Central."
Although CMU has not captured another national title since Kramer's departure, he feels the university has made great strides and is continuing to improve on a number of levels.
"CMU is a far different school from when I was there; academically, facility-wise and student body-wise," Kramer said. "There have been great improvements.
"Central is a unique university. It has a location that geographically places it as the heartbeat of the state. It's something of a marketplace; it offers so many things to so many people, and it doesn't allow itself to be overpowered by other institutions. That, along with its great sense of pride, makes CMU a very strong university."
Kramer left CMU in 1978 for the athletics director post at Vanderbilt University.
"I remember I was on a golf course in Shepherd," Kramer said. "We were at a club outing. I received a phone call asking me to go down to Chicago and apply for the athletic director position at Vanderbilt. It ended up I took that advice, and came away with the job."
After an impeccable 23 years of coaching, Kramer hung up his whistle and moved to the administrative side of athletics at Vanderbilt.
"Coaching is not really a position that you stay with your whole life," Kramer said. "I always knew the day would come when I would move on to something else. I've found that once you leave, it's hard to go back."
The position not only brought Kramer to a Division I university, it brought him to the prominent Southeastern Conference.
"The SEC seemed like a good fit, because I grew up in the South, and I had always wanted to return," he said. "A very palatable opportunity with the conference came at a time when I was weighing my options, and it all fell into place."
The move proved to be successful, as Kramer helped Vanderbilt move from occasional obscurity to the forefront of intercollegiate athletics. He landed several NCAA basketball tournaments, brought large revenue increases and helped to erect the 41,000-seat Vanderbilt Stadium.
Even with all of the success and recognition, Kramer still found that the move from coach to bureaucracy was challenging.
"Many administrators do not have a coaching background, which can be a detriment," Kramer said. "They don't have that 'in the trenches' experience, and it becomes difficult to deal with and adjust to certain issues. For me, being a coach was priceless, and it gave me certain skills that cannot be taught.
"The ability to deal directly with the athletes and to truly make an impact on young lives is something you miss in administration. But when I was coaching, I was able to sort of leave the real world at 3 o'clock and step onto the practice field, leaving my problems behind me. The problems don't go away in administration, they stay with you. You can't just walk away."
Kramer did not walk away, as he continued to move forward with his career. After 12 strong years with Vanderbilt, Kramer was appointed as the sixth commissioner of the SEC on Jan. 10, 1990.
During his occupancy, Kramer helped the conference's strength grow from formidable to unsurpassable. During the '90s, the SEC won 81 national championships, the most ever by the league in a decade. Two powerful institutions, Arkansas and South Carolina, were added to expand the conference, and two divisions were created to distribute the success. Revenue reached record-highs every year, with the conference dividing $78.1 million to its member schools in 2000-01 alone.
Kramer modestly admires the achievements.
"I'm not sure that it was me that made the SEC the way it is now," Kramer said. "It had always been a viable conference, 50-plus years before I stepped in. I became the commissioner at a time when it was very conceivable to make changes.
"When I took the job, our greatest concern was overexposure. We felt that we were at the brink of disaster; that we would drive the market out. It turned out that we were on the threshold of the electronic age, and we took advantage of it. That, compounded with the twelve-team, two-division setup, gave us a chance to promote our product at a higher level."
That higher level helped Kramer become one of the most powerful figures in intercollegiate sport, as he sat on several important NCAA committees, including men's basketball selection committee.
"Working within the selection committee was very rewarding, but it was also very controversial. I never got more hate mail in my life, with teams being left out," Kramer said.
On March 12, 2002, after serving as the SEC's commissioner for 12 years, the 72-year-old Kramer announced his plans to retire. Although he is leaving collegiate athletics, he feels that he is leaving it in good hands.
"There is a very positive climate in athletics today," Kramer said. "The collegiate arena is a lab of human experience that is second to none."
Kramer's future plans, other than spending more time with his wife and family, are uncertain, as he plans on retiring without looking back. He does, however, reflect fondly on his coaching days in high school and with CMU.
"Coaching has been the most rewarding aspect of my career," Kramer said. "It's a part of my life that I thoroughly enjoyed and will never forget. You always will miss it, especially after doing it as long as I did. At 1:15 on a Saturday afternoon, I still get a little twitch. There's nothing quite like that."
As for his legacy?
"People always ask me about my legacy- what I'll leave behind," Kramer said. "I'm not too big on the whole idea of legacy. I consider the ultimate goal to be, whether it's athletics, business, et cetera, for your organization to continue to enjoy success after you leave. That's a positive sense of accomplishment. Whether you work as a coach on a team, as an administrator at a university, or as a commissioner for a conference; as long as you can leave something for them to develop and build on, you have done your job."
Looking back on 48 years of success, accomplishments and memories, Roy Kramer has done his job, and done it well.