'He ran a tight office'

"Byers had a reputation of being a difficult man to work for, and in some respects he was," said longtime staff member Louis J. Spry. "The people who got along best with Walter were those who gave him an honest day's work every day."

Price recalled his last day at the office before heading to a sports information job at the University of Oklahoma. Faced with a long drive, he was hoping to get out a tad early. "Walter kept me there until 5," Price said.

Tardiness, sloppiness and mistakes of omission were among Byers' pet peeves. He also was infamous for not allowing snacks or beverages in the work space. One support staff member, in fact, did not return from lunch after being squelched in separate attempts to drink coffee, eat crackers or smoke a cigarette during her first morning on the job. It is believed to be the shortest staff stint on record.

Lengthy service log

The longest tenure of any NCAA staff member belongs to one of the originals, perhaps even the first after Walter Byers.

But who was first?

The reason rank is in doubt is because Marjorie K. Fieber and Wayne Duke still have a friendly feud about which one was Walter Byers' first hire. Fieber claims to have helped Byers "unload the truck" when the national office unveiled its Kansas City location, but Duke says the only reason he wasn't there is because Byers let Duke have the day off to visit his parents in Iowa. "It was the only day off Byers ever gave me," Duke would later say.

Regardless of who was first, Fieber was definitely last -- to leave, that is. She outlasted Duke's 11 years of national office service, staying as business manager from July 1952 to April 1985. And that was just her full-time service. She remained on a part-time basis to help out with Association business matters until 1995.

Fieber told The NCAA News upon her retirement that when she was hired, she did not know what the NCAA was.

"I called my father, who was very informed," she said. "He told me that the only way for the NCAA to go was up."

Fieber's father was right. During Fieber's full-time tenure, the staff grew from five to 108.

As for the longest current tenure, that belongs to a good friend of Fieber's, Lydia Sanchez, who has stood beside all three NCAA CEOs as an able assistant.

Sanchez began her career in 1969 working for Art Bergstrom of the enforcement staff. She soon moved into an executive assistant slot for Walter Byers, and then became director of Conventions and meetings and director of executive affairs under Dick Schultz and Ced Dempsey.

"The loyalty I've felt toward the Association also is a factor in my longevity. The fact that there's a paycheck attached is up there pretty high, too.

Put 'er right here

"What I saw when I was at the office was that the staff started to get more involved in framing issues -- not that they were making decisions for the membership, but they played a greater role in setting the table and helping members to focus on particular options. They were assisting and leading at the same time," Marcil said.

"I always compared staff service to Lance Parrish's catcher's mitt because he used to spray paint the perimeter of the mitt in neon orange, which, combined with a dark inner mitt, provided a great target for a pitcher. I thought of the NCAA staff as creating that kind of target for the membership without going so far as throwing the pitch."