Cedric Dempsey, the former NCAA president who helped turn Arizona into a national power as athletic director before leading the national organization through key years of transition and growth, died Saturday in San Diego, the NCAA said. He was 92.

Dempsey was revered as an administrator on campus. His nine-year tenure as the NCAA’s leader included moving its headquarters and significant fiscal growth for the organization, including landmark television deals worth billions.

“Ced was instrumental in shaping the NCAA as it moved into the new century, overseeing a restructuring of the organization, and strengthening the foundation of college sports for years that followed his tenure,” current NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a statement released by the organization.

“His impact on the lives of student-athletes and administrators across the nation will be felt for years to come,” Baker said.

Dempsey oversaw the organization’s move from the Kansas City suburbs to Indianapolis in 1999 and helped reimagine how the governing body could work best in the 21st century.

His most enduring legacy may be the role he played in creating TV deals with ESPN and CBS that brought in $6.2 billion over an 11-year span.

“Twenty-one years ago, Cedric painted a picture for me that I could one day be an athletic director,” current Arizona athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois said in a statement. “His guidance helped me see a calling I never knew could be possible. I am forever grateful for the impact he had on the trajectory of my career and on my life as a whole. He will be deeply missed by our family and by everyone in the University of Arizona community.”

Dempsey’s hires in Tucson included coaches such as Lute Olson and Dick Tomey, who became iconic figures for Wildcats fans. During his 11-year tenure, Arizona teams won five national team championships, 39 individual NCAA titles and 17 Pac-10 crowns.

He also served as the men’s basketball selection committee chairman in 1988-89.

In 1965, he started a 46-year career in administration by becoming an associate athletic director at Albion. He left there to be the athletic director at Pacific, before stints at San Diego State and Houston before moving to Arizona in 1983.

Dempsey left Arizona in 1994 to become the sixth executive director/president in NCAA history, and it was there he became a national figure.

“I think the NCAA is where it is today because of Ced,” former NCAA executive committee chairman Bob Lawless said when Dempsey announced he was retiring in January 2002. “He has been a real treasure for the NCAA.”

He also served as commissioner of the All-American Football League from 2007-10 and battled cancer three times. Dempsey is a member of multiple Halls of Fame and is survived by his wife, June, and two children.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Georgia Tech hired former Maryland women’s assistant coach Karen Blair as coach, replacing Nell Fortner, who announced her retirement this past week.

Blair worked on the Maryland staff for seven seasons, including the last five as associate head coach. The Terrapins won three Big Ten titles in the seven seasons.

Georgia Tech athletic director J Batt said in a statement he was impressed by Maryland’s success during Blair’s time on the staff.

“We set out to find a coach that has an established record of success at the highest level — both on the court and on the recruiting trail — and Coach Blair certainly fits that bill,” Batt said.

Maryland won at least one game in five of six NCAA Tournament appearances in the last seven years. The Terps advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2021, 2022 and 2025 and earned a spot in the Elite Eight in 2023.

Maryland finished with a No. 4 national ranking in 2020, when the NCAA Tournament was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

TENNIS

Qualifier Jenson Brooksby earned his first ATP Tour title by beating Frances Tiafoe 6-4, 6-2 in the final of the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston.

Brooksby, 24, from Sacramento, saved five match points during the tournament, including one in his semifinal win over top seed Tommy Paul. Brooksby eliminated the three highest-seeded men in the field, including No. 2 Tiafoe and No. 3 Alejandro Tabilo.

Ranked outside the top 500 entering the event, Brooksby is expected to climb inside the top 175 in today’s ATP rankings.

Veteran Richard Gasquet beat Matteo Arnaldi 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to reach the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters in Monaco as he makes his last appearance at the tournament.

The 38-year-old Frenchman is retiring at the end of the season and was given a wild-card entry at the clay-court tournament where he shot to prominence 20 years ago, beating Roger Federer in a thrilling quarterfinal.

Gasquet then narrowly lost the semifinal to Rafael Nadal, and didn’t fulfill his potential in a what-might-have-been career as one of the most technically gifted players of his generation.

Armed with an exquisite one-handed backhand that tennis purists admired, Gasquet struggled against leading players, including a 2-19 head-to-head record against Roger Federer. He lost all 18 matches to Nadal and 13 of 14 matches against Novak Djokovic.

Against Arnaldi, Gasquet conceded 11 break points. But the Italian converted only three and dropped his service five times.