Roy Kramer, a giant in Central Michigan Athletics lore, passed away Thursday at the age of 96.

Kramer led the Central Michigan football program from 1967-77, compiling an 83-32-2 record for a 71.8 win percentage. His 1974 team finished 12-1 and won the NCAA Division II national championship, the only national team championship in Central Michigan history.

He oversaw CMU football's transition to NCAA Division I-A (now Football Bowl Subdivision) and its move to the Mid-American Conference before serving from 1978-90 as athletics director of Vanderbilt University. He then became commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, serving in that capacity from 1990-2002 and was instrumental in the creation of the Bowl Championship Series, the precursor to the College Football Playoff.

Herb Deromedi joined Kramer's CMU football coaching staff in 1967 and Deromedi served as the defensive coordinator on the Chippewas' 1974 national title-winning team. Deromedi succeeded Kramer when Kramer left CMU after the 1977 season.

Both men are enshrined in the National Football Foundation College Football and Marcy Weston Central Michigan University halls of fame, the field at Kelly/Shorts Stadium is named in their honor, and both men have statues outside the Chippewa Champions Center.

Kramer, a native of Maryville, Tennessee, is a member five halls of fame, including Vanderbilt Athletics, the Tennessee and Alabama sports halls of fame; he received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award and the Duffy Daugherty Award, the Distinguished American Award, and the SEC Male and Female Athlete of the Year Award is presented annually as the Roy F. Kramer Award in his honor.

Kramer was married for 62 years to his beloved Sara Jo, who passed away in 2013, and they had three children, Steve, Sara Gray and Jane, in addition to six grandchildren.