Fmr. Arizona athletic director, NCAA executive director Cedric Dempsey dies

TUCSON, Ariz. — When it comes to Arizona Wildcats athletics, many legendary names come to mind. 

When it comes to players, fans may think of Mike Bibby, Teddy Bruschi, Rob Gronkowski, Terry Francona, Richard Jefferson, Jason Terry, John “Button” Salmon, Chuck Cecil and many others. 

When it comes to coaches, every Wildcat fan would name Lute Olson (men’s basketball), Dick Tomey (football), and Mike Candrea (softball).  

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But no single person may have had a bigger impact on Wildcats athletics than former athletic director Cedric Dempsey, who died on Saturday in San Diego, according to the Arizona Daily Star’s Greg Hansen.

Dempsey was a three-sport star at Albion College in Michigan in the 1950s, and his job in sports after graduating came with the Britons, as he was the school’s head basketball and cross country coach from 1959-1962. 

After four years at his alma mater, Dempsey would make his first stop in the Grand Canyon State, spending three years (1963-65) as an assistant basketball coach with the Wildcats.  

After coaching with the Wildcats, Dempsey made his move into administration, becoming an assistant athletic director at Arizona, a role he would hold until 1967, when he was hired by the University of the Pacific to lead the Tiger’s athletic program. 

Dempsey would stay at Pacific until 1979, then spend one year at San Diego State University and three years at the University of Houston before returning to southern Arizona, taking over what was then a fledgling Arizona athletics program in 1983. 

Dempsey’s decade in charge would transform Arizona athletics as he would go on to hire Candrea, Tomey and Olson, the latter of whom led Arizona to a men’s basketball national championship in 1997. 

In 1993, Dempsey left Tucson to become the executive director of the NCAA, a role that he would hold until 2003 and would see him play a major role in negotiating what was then the most lucrative television deal in NCAA history and moving the NCAA headquarters from Kansas City to Indianapolis, which is still stands today.  

Dempsey would return one more time to the Arizona athletics department in 2017, when the Wildcats needed a new athletic director after Greg Byrne left for Alabama. Dempsey would look to his alma mater for the next AD in Tucson, hiring fellow Albion alum Dave Heeke, who led the department until 2024.   

Dempsey is a member of several Halls of Fame, including those at Arizona, Albion and Pacific. He is also a member of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Hall of Fame.  

Arizona’s C.A.T.S (Commitment to an Athlete’s Total Success) program is named after Dempsey. 

Prior to his death, Dempsey had beaten cancer three times and had undergone two hear surgeries, according to Hansen. Dempsey was 94 years old.  

The city of Phoenix is home to four major professional sports league teams; The NFL’s Arizona Cardinals, NBA’s Phoenix Suns, WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and MLB’s Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Cardinals have made State Farm Stadium in Glendale their home turf and the Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix is home to both the Suns and the Mercury. The Indoor Football League’s Arizona Rattlers play at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale.

Phoenix also has a soccer team with the USL’s Phoenix Rising FC, who play at Phoenix Rising FC Stadium in Phoenix.

The Valley hosts multiple major sporting events every year, including college football’s Fiesta Bowl and Guaranteed Rate Bowl; the PGA Tour’s highest-attended event, the WM Phoenix Open; NASCAR events each spring and fall, including Championship Weekend in November; and Cactus League Spring Training for 15 Major League Baseball franchises.

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