BATON ROUGE — Four LSU legends appear on the Birmingham News list of the 25 individuals that have most influenced the Southeastern Conference since its inception in 1933.
In conjunction with the SEC’s celebration of its 75th anniversary season beginning this fall, the newspaper released its list of the Top 25 coaches, athletes and administrators that have made the biggest impact on the league’s development.
LSU is represented on the list by basketball guard Pete Maravich, football and track coach Bernie Moore, basketball forward and athletics director Joe Dean, and baseball coach and athletics director Skip Bertman.
“This year the SEC celebrates its 75th full season of athletic competition,” writes the Birmingham News staff, “and the conference has changed dramatically since a 1933 meeting in Birmingham of 13 school presidents that resulted in those schools leaving the 30-member Southern Conference and forming the SEC.
“The SEC has grown from a rural athletic conference that seemed to care only about itself and football into a force that, during the past 20 years, has been responsible for some of the most significant changes in college athletics.”
A three-time all-American at LSU (1968, ’69, ’70), Maravich is the NCAA’s all-time scoring leader with 3,667 points, an average of 44.2 points for 83 games. The native of Aliquippa, Penn. was named National Player of the Year in 1969 and 1970, and he was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1987.
The first-round draft choice of the Atlanta Hawks in 1970, Maravich enjoyed a 10-year NBA career with the Hawks, the New Orleans Jazz and the Boston Celtics. He was named one of the NBA’s Top 50 all-time players during the league’s 50-year anniversary celebration in 1997.
Maravich died of heart failure at the age of 40 on Jan. 5, 1988.
Moore, a native of Jonesboro, Tenn., served as both the football coach (1935-47) and the track & field coach (1933-47) during his legendary tenure at LSU.
Moore’s Fighting Tigers won two SEC football titles (1935, 1936) and his track & field teams won 12 SEC titles and the 1933 NCAA championship. LSU’s Bernie Moore Track Stadium is named in his honor.
After completing his tenure at LSU, Moore became SEC Commissioner in 1947. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1952. Moore died in 1967 at the age of 72.
Dean, a product of New Albany, Ind., earned all-SEC honors three times as an LSU basketball player from 1949 to 1952. Dean was drafted by the Indianapolis Olympians in the first round of the 1952 NBA Draft, but instead played for the Bartlesville Phillips 66ers of the National Industrial Basketball League.
Dean was a TV color analyst for almost 20 years, working with NBC, TBS, ESPN, TVS and Jefferson Pilot. He coined the phrase “string music,” which has since become an SEC basketball trademark.
Dean, a member of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame and the LSU Athletics Hall of Fame, served as LSU’s athletics director from 1987-2000.
Bertman, LSU’s athletics director since 2001, guided LSU to five NCAA baseball titles during his 18-year coaching tenure (1984-2001). The Miami, Fla. native also served as head coach of the 1996 U.S. Olympic team which captured the bronze medal in Atlanta.
In a Baseball America poll published in 1999, Bertman was voted the second greatest college baseball coach of the 20th century, trailing only Rod Dedeaux of Southern California.
Bertman continues to be honored for his remarkable coaching tenure, as he was inducted in June, 2006 into the College Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the hall’s inaugural class. He has also been induced into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
In six years as LSU’s director of athletics, Bertman has added to his impressive list of on-the-field achievements. Under his direction, LSU has enjoyed arguably the greatest athletics seasons in the history of the institution.
The 2007-08 season will mark Bertman’s final year as LSU athletics director. After his tenure ends on June 30, 2008, he will remain at LSU as athletics director emeritus through 2010, working as a vital fund-raiser for the university.
Following is the Birmingham News list of the 25 individuals that have most influenced the SEC:
1. Bear Bryant
Set the standard for college football success by winning 323 games and six national championships. Original bowl powerbroker is still revered by Alabama and college fans 25 years after his death.
2. Adolph Rupp
Put SEC basketball on the map. Created a dynasty with 876 wins, four national titles and 27 SEC titles as Kentucky’s legendary coach.
3. Roy Kramer
Most powerful man in college athletics in the 1990s and father of BCS. Oversaw SEC’s dynamic growth through its football championship game, expansion and television.
4. General Robert Neyland
Won four national championships and 83 percent of his football games as Tennessee coach. Ushered in era of building gigantic stadiums.
5. Steve Spurrier
Heisman Trophy winner revolutionized SEC offenses while winning big at Florida. Passing became more en vogue in grind-it-out SEC.
6. Pat Summitt
Most successful women’s coach in history of college athletics. Has won seven NCAA basketball titles at Tennessee.
7. Vince Dooley
Successful Georgia football coach and athletics director for 41 years. Helped break NCAA stranglehold on football television rights.
8. Pete Maravich
NCAA’s career leading scorer introduced basketball to many SEC fans. Capacity crowds saw the LSU star display a flamboyant style ahead of his time.
9. C.M. Newton
Social reformer in basketball as a coach and administrator at Alabama, Vandy and Kentucky. Hired the first black head basketball coaches at Kentucky.
10. Boyd McWhorter
SEC commissioner when agreement was made to send SEC football champ to Sugar Bowl. Reinstituted men’s basketball tournament in 1979 after 27-year layoff.
11. Archie Manning
Ole Miss dual-threat quarterback and father of future SEC stars Peyton and Eli. Still a Southern folk hero.
12. John Vaught
Professional and college football teams still use his variations on offense. Success at Ole Miss credited as stabilizing factor in Mississippi during civil rights movement of 1960s.
13. Herschel Walker
The original blue-chip prospect defined the term “impact freshman.” Freshman year at Georgia in 1980 showed talent can trump experience.
14. Bo Jackson
SEC’s original Superman in 1980s. Charismatic football and baseball player who won Heisman Trophy. Became immediate marketing star after leaving Auburn.
15. Bernie Moore
Won SEC’s first national title, in track at LSU in 1933. Longest-tenured SEC commissioner moved office to Birmingham from Jackson, Miss.
16. Ron Polk
Put SEC baseball on the map and turned sport into a revenue-maker with record crowds at Mississippi State. Antagonist of NCAA.
17. Condredge Holloway
First black quarterback in SEC, guiding Tennessee from 1972 to 1974. Opened up idea blacks could play football’s most critical position.
18. Joe Dean Sr.
TV analyst made SEC hoops colorful with “string music.” Also was All-SEC basketball player and 14-year athletics director at LSU.
19. Mike Slive
Current SEC commissioner trying to change conference’s image as a rogue league. Biggest influence may come in future national playoff.
20. Babe McCarthy
Mississippi State basketball coach snuck team out to face integrated Loyola at 1963 NCAA Tournament. Defied his governor amid racist public pressure.
21. Harvey Schiller
Short tenure as SEC commissioner in late 1980s, but impactful. Had vision for marketing and future SEC expansion.
22. Frank Broyles
Called the Hogs to SEC and spread the gospel of SEC football nationally as broadcaster.
23. Skip Bertman
Won five national baseball championships at LSU. Energized other conference teams in 1990s to compete, creating annual SEC stops in Omaha.
24. Shug Jordan
Put modern Auburn football on the map as its coach with 1957 national title. Raised the stakes for football in the state of Alabama.
25. Jeremy Foley
Quick-trigger athletics director turned Florida into multi-sport dynasty admired nationally. Where will he rank by SEC’s 100th year in 2032?