The Southwestern Athletic Conference announced Tuesday that its Birmingham, Alabama headquarters would bear the name of the conference’s former longtime commissioner and sports administrative trailblazer.
The conference’s board of Presidents and Chancellors announced that SWAC headquarters will now be known as the Dr. James Frank Building, honoring the man who served as the conference’s leader from 1983 -1998.
“Dr. Frank’s impact and legacy with the NCAA and the Southwestern Athletic Conference is truly remarkable,” current SWAC commissioner Dr. Charles McClelland said in a statement. “He was a true pioneer in the field of collegiate athletics, and his vision and legacy continue to positively impact countless student-athletes both past and present.”
Frank was an HBCU lifer, attending and graduating from Lincoln University of Missouri on a basketball scholarship. Then after two years as a first lieutenant in the Army Corps of Engineers and earning a master’s degree in education from Springfield (Mass.) College, he was the Dean of Students and VP for Academic Affairs at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn before returning to LUMO as a basketball coach and, eventually, school president.
Before taking over as SWAC commissioner, Dr. Frank made history in 1981 as the first African-American president of the NCAA. Under Frank’s watch, the SWAC expanded by bringing Alabama State, Alabama A&M and Arkansas-Pine Bluff on board, expanding women’s sports in the conference, as well as guiding the SWAC through its early years as a Division I conference.
Frank died in 2019, and just recently, his alma mater renamed a residence hall in his honor.
“The Southwestern Athletic Conference will forever be indebted to Frank and his contributions to our league,” McClelland said. “The naming of our conference headquarters in his honor is truly fitting and undoubtedly well-deserved as we look to continually honor the historic contributions he made that have helped shape our conference into what it is today.”
An official naming ceremony will be held at a later date to be determined.
