After forming in Knoxville, SEC nears another football season

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An interesting article with a little more historical information than I can post here. But it all began right here in Knoxville, Tennessee at the Andrew Johnson Hotel.

KNOXVILLE - The SEC is approaching another football season.

The Southeastern Conference was formed in Knoxville at the Andrew Johnson Hotel on December 8-9, 1932, during the annual Southern Conference banquet.

13 members of the Southern Conference located west and south of the Appalachian Mountains departed to form their own conference, the SEC. Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Sewanee, Tennessee, Tulane, and Vanderbilt were the founding institutions of the newly formed Southeastern Conference.

Separation to form the new conference was in part of having more of a focus on better athletic administration with fewer teams from the 23 schools of the Southern Conference. The Southern Conference also planned on increasing eligibility requirements.

[...]

Dr. John J. Tigert, president of the University of Florida, spoke for the 13 institutions and formally presented resignations at the meeting in Knoxville.

Dr. Frank L. McVey, president of the University of Kentucky, was named president of the SEC, J.F. Broussard of LSU was elected vice president and A.H. Armstrong of Georgia Tech was named secretary.

[...]

After meeting in early December 1932, in Knoxville, the SEC has maintained a commitment to athletics and football 86 years later.

After forming in Knoxville, SEC nears another football season

 

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As we all know, Georgia Tech, Tulane and Sewanee left the SEC.

Tulane and Sewanee wished to de-emphasize athletics and stress a devotion to higher learning.

Georgia Tech's Bobby Dodd was perturbed by the 140 rule and how players were having their scholarships pulled at other SEC schools - namely Alabama - when they didn't live up to expectations.
Dodd claimed that it was due to his own poor evaluation if a kid turned out not to be the player he had presumed. Nevertheless, in the long run, leaving the SEC has proven to have been a huge mistake for all three schools.

 

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I had previously heard or read that the SEC was formed in Knoxville, but I don't recall knowing of a specific meeting place. Here is an excerpt from an article with information that contradicts the previous:

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Do you know the SEC originated out of a meeting in Knoxville?

Trenton Keelan claims it happened on 530 S. Gay St., at what's now the Hyatt Place. He's the general manager of the new downtown hotel. Back in 1932 when the SEC was formed, it was known as the Farragut Hotel.

There's a placard hanging inside the Hyatt place that reads "Birthplace of the SEC." the sign continues.

Let's back it up to 1894 — according to SECsports.com , that's the year the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association was formed during a meeting called by a Vanderbilt professor with representatives from Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Sewanee present as well.

The SIAA league expanded in 1895 to 19 schools, and by 1920 it grew even more to 30 schools. That's when the larger schools reorganized as the Southern Conference at a meeting in Gainesville, Florida, Dec. 12-13, 1920. SC included Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi State, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Tennessee, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Washington & Lee.

Although the SC was meant to be capped at 16 schools, it continued growing as well. By 1932, there were 23 teams — and they decided to split them according to which side of the Appalachian Mountains the schools were on.

That was decided in a meeting in Knoxville — supposedly at the Farragut Hotel — on Dec. 8-9, 1932.

"So in 1932, December of 1932, the SEC was actually formed here in this building in what was a meeting room in the hotel,"​

Keelan said.

The schools west and south of the Appalachian Mountains — Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisiana State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Sewanee, Tennessee, Tulane and Vanderbilt — became what's now known as the Southeastern Conference.

"The Southeastern Conference, powerhouse in all things athletic, was created in meetings at the Farragut Hotel in December of 1932,"​

the Hyatt Place's SEC sign reads.

"There were 13 original schools, of which 10 are still members."​

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Was the SEC formed in Knoxville at the Farragut Hotel?