Stuart Frost Presents a Brief History of the Southeastern Conference

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Lifelong basketball fan and business owner Stuart Frost delves into more than eight decades of SEC history

The Southeastern Conference, or SEC, is an American college athletic conference centered around the Southeastern and South Central United States. An Alabama native, now based in Orange County, California, lifelong sports fan and successful construction firm owner Stuart Frost, SEC fan, looks back on the SEC’s impressive 87-year history.

“Founded in 1932, the SEC is headquartered in my home city of Birmingham, Alabama,” explains Frost. Growing up in Jefferson County, and studying at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, lifelong basketball and sports fan Stuart quickly became involved with the SEC, as did many of his peers.

The SEC was established when members of the existing Southern Conference left to form their own organization. “Ten out of the thirteen founding members of the SEC have remained in the conference since its inception,” reveals Stuart Frost, “including Auburn University, the University of Alabama, and the University of Tennessee.”

Over the following four decades, after the SEC was founded, the organization grew and became rapidly more inclusive, according to construction firm owner and SEC fan Stuart. “Fast forward another 25 years and the SEC had expanded to include a further two member universities,” he adds, “with the newcomers competing for the first time in the 1991-1992 basketball season.”

As the conference grew, certain sports, including football and baseball, were divided into two divisions – the Western Division, in the Central Time Zone, and the Eastern Division, in the Eastern Time Zone. “One Central Time Zone team, Vanderbilt, was placed in the Eastern Division in order to preserve its famous rivalry with Tennessee,” Frost reveals.

The SEC then expanded once again in 2012. “In September 2011, it was announced that Texas A&M University would join the conference effective July 1 the following year,” Stuart Frost explains. “Just over a month later, it was also announced that the University of Missouri would join the SEC on the same date,” adds the Alabama native, today based in Orange County, California.

A particular fan of basketball, Stuart Frost, SEC fan, goes on to explain that the SEC also focuses on 20 further sports, including football, softball, and boxing. “In addition to basketball, the SEC also focuses on football, baseball, tennis, golf, boxing, and softball,” he points out, “plus cross country, swimming and diving, track and field, and more.”

Despite moving from the Yellowhammer State to California more than two decades ago, Frost remains a keen follower of the SEC, and, most notably, SEC Men’s Basketball. Frost is also involved with the SEC Academic Leadership Development Program, and the SEC Symposium, an academic conference held annually to display the research and innovation of SEC institutions for an audience of government officials, academicians, grant funding agents, and SEC stakeholders.

“Despite now living 2,000 miles away, my sons and I regularly travel back to Jefferson County,” he adds, wrapping up, “to visit family and to indulge in our shared love of, in particular, SEC Men’s Basketball.”

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