University of the Pacific

Courtesy of Stockton Athletic Hall of Fame

Dr. Cedric Dempsey was hired as Pacific's Director of Athletifs and Chairman of the Health, Physical Education, and Recreation Department in 1967. 

Dempsey guided Pacific from its small college designation to its current Division I-A classification, acting as a catalyst in UOP's move from the West Coast Athletic Conference to the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference. He strengthened the football and basketball schedules with interstate major college powers while increasing revenues and establishing financial stability for the overall athletic program. He increased physical education offerings for students and hired the school's first full-time intramural director in 1975. 

Dr. Dempsey initiated Pacific's intercollegiate athletic program for women in 1970 and was teh guiding force behind the creation of the Northern California Athletic Conference for women, serving as its first president in 1977. 

He helped create the Pacific Athletic Foundation (PAF) in 1972, as PAF's innovative fundraising became a model for athletic support groups nationwide. Among the athletic facilities introduced to campus under Dempsey's watch where the Chris Kjeldsen Pool at the Pacific Aquatics Center, the Pacific Stadium Club and the Alex G. Spanos Center. 

In 1994, Dempsey became president of the NCAA and facilitied the complete organization of the NCAA Division I, II and III into a federated system, the most significant change in legislation since the NCAA's inception. Dempsey brought the NCAA into the modern age with a new campus and a Hall of Champions.