Mike Slive served as the SEC Commissioner from 2002-2015, overseeing tremendous growth for the conference in pretty much all major sports. Obviously, the conference’s true calling card is football, but he helped the entity grow leaps and bounds in other areas.
Sadly, Slive reportedly passed away in Birmingham on Wednesday at the age of 77.
BREAKING:
Very sad news: Former SEC commissioner Mike Slive passed away today in Birmingham. He was 77.
— George Schroeder (@GeorgeSchroeder) May 16, 2018
A native of New York, Slive graduated from Dartmouth with a Bachelor of Arts degree before graduating with law degrees from Virginia and Georgetown.
Slive previously served as coordinator of the now defunct Bowl Championship Series in 2006 and 2007 as well as being a member of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee through September 2009.
One of the most influential figures in SEC history, Slive had battled prostate cancer in the 1990s. He recently announced he was going to undergo treatment for the same disease in retiring from his post back in 2015.