Walter Byers died last week at the age of 93, but his legacy as the first executive director of the N.C.A.A. resonates in virtually every aspect of the multibillion-dollar enterprise of intercollegiate athletics.
Byers, at 29, became the first executive director of the N.C.A.A. in 1951. He stepped down in 1987.
For 36 years under Byers, the N.C.A.A. began to look like an American fief, not unlike those commanded by sports czars who were his contemporaries, like Primo Nibiolo, head of an international track federation, and Juan Antonio Samaranch, who led the International Olympic Committee.