The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) has selected Roy Kramer, commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, as the recipient of the 36th James J. Corbett Memorial Award, NACDA's highest honor.

NACDA's Corbett Award is presented annually to the collegiate administrator who "through the years has most typified Corbett's devotion to intercollegiate athletics and worked unceasingly for its betterment." Corbett, athletics director at Louisiana State University, was NACDA's first president in 1965.

Kramer will be honored during the James J. Corbett Awards Luncheon June 17 at the NACDA convention.

In addition to receiving the Corbett Award, Kramer will receive an honorary degree from the Sports Management Institute, an educational institute sponsored by NACDA; the University of Michigan; the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; the University of Notre Dame; the University of South Carolina, Columbia; the University of Southern California; and the University of Texas at Austin.

Selected as the SEC's sixth commissioner in January 1990, Kramer also served as the director of athletics at Vanderbilt University for 12 years. He also was the head football coach at Central Michigan University for 12 years.

Kramer orchestrated the SEC's addition of South Carolina and the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. He negotiated multiyear agreements, allowing conference teams to participate in bowl games, and he led negotiations with CBS Sports, ESPN and Jefferson Pilot, developing television packages that feature football and men and women's basketball. Kramer also administered a distribution of more than $559 million to member institutions and secured the first conference championship football game for Division I-A.

Kramer also was instrumental in the creation of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) and served as coordinator from 1995 to 1999.

Inducted into NACDA's Hall of Fame in 1997, Kramer also received the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Distinguished American Award in 1998 and the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Maryville College (Tennessee), his alma mater, in 1982.

Kramer was a member of NACDA's Executive Committee from 1993-97. He also has served on numerous NCAA committees, including the Division I Men's Basketball Committee (1986-92, chaired in 1992) and the Committee on Infractions (1988-97).

Jacoby also honored

NACDA also announced that Fred Jacoby, former commissioner of the Southwest Conference and Mid-American Conference and current commissioner of the Lone Star Conference and American Southwest Conference, has been chosen to receive the 21st NACDA/NIT Athletics Directors Award.

Jacoby has 53 years of experience in coaching and athletics administration, including 10 as a high-school coach, eight as an assistant football coach at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and 35 as a conference commissioner.

Jacoby integrated women's athletics into both the MAC and the SWC. At the MAC, he became the first commissioner of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, expanding it into one of the strongest hockey conferences in the NCAA.

At the SWC, Jacoby facilitated the change in the conference's constitution, making the SWC Council of Presidents the main governing body.

Jacoby graduated from Ohio State University and received his master's degree from Wisconsin.

Past Corbett Award recipients

Past winners of the James J. Corbett Memorial Award and their affiliation at the time:

2001 -- Jack Lengyel, director of athletics, U.S. Naval Academy

2000 -- Cedric Dempsey, president, NCAA

1999 -- Chuck Neinas, former executive director, College Football Association

1998 -- James Frank, commissioner, Southwestern Athletic Conference

1997 -- Gene Corrigan, commissioner, Atlantic Coast Conference

1996 -- Carl James, commissioner, Big Eight Conference

1995 -- Elizabeth (Betty) Kruczek, director of athletics, Fitchburg State University

1994 -- Richard D. Schultz, former executive director, NCAA

1993 -- LeRoy Walker, president, United States Olympic Committee

1992 -- Homer Rice, director of athletics, Georgia Institute of Technology

1991 -- Joe Kearney, commissioner, Western Athletic Conference

1990 -- George King, director of athletics, Purdue University

1989 -- Scotty Whitelaw, commissioner, Eastern College Athletic Conference

1988 -- Mike Lude, director of athletics, University of Washington

1987 -- John Toner, director of athletics, University of Connecticut

1986 -- Carl Maddox, director of athletics, Mississippi State University

1985 -- Cecil Coleman, commissioner, Midwestern City Conference

1984 -- Bud Jack, director of athletics, University of Utah

1983 -- Wiles Hallock, executive director, Pacific-10 Conference

1982 -- Edgar Sherman, director of athletics, Muskingum College

1981 -- Bill Flynn, director of athletics, Boston College

1980 -- Stan Bates, commissioner, Western Athletic Conference

1979 -- Harry Fouke, director of athletics, University of Houston

1978 -- Bill Orwig, director of athletics, Indiana University, Bloomington

1977 -- Bob Kane, president, U.S. Olympic Committee

1976 -- Walter Byers, executive director, NCAA

1975 -- Jesse Hill, executive director, PCAA

1974 -- Al Twitchell, director of athletics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick

1973 -- Ernie McCoy, director of athletics, University of Miami (Florida)

1972 -- Bill Reed, commissioner, Big Ten Conference

1971 -- Tom Hamilton, commissioner, Pacific-8 Conference

1970 -- Dick Larkins, director of athletics, Ohio State University

1969 -- Asa Bushnell, commissioner, Eastern College Athletic Conference

1968 -- Fritz Crisler, director of athletics, University of Michigan

1967 -- Bernie Moore, commissioner, Southeastern Conference