| Dr. Bernard Sliger |
Full Name: Bernard Francis Sliger
Born: September 30, 1924, Chassell, Mich.
Died: October 10, 2007, Marquette, Mich.
Legacy Bricks: Legacy Walk Map Link
1992 Moore-Stone Award HOF - Loc 64
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| FSU Career |
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Year Hgt Wgt Cl Ltr Hometown
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| Member of the FSU Hall of Fame |
| Elected into the FSU Hall of Fame in 1992 |
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They called him "Bernie" and that in itself may tell you something about the man who served as Florida State University's President from 1976 through his retirement in 1991. Marvelously effective as a
leader and universally popular as a human being, Dr. Bernard F. Sliger guided FSU through 15 years of unprecedented growth and achievement. It was not a coincidence that Florida State's athletic fortunes exploded during Sliger's tenure as President. Always a proponent of a strong athletic program and its place among college campus life, Bernie brought in strong administrators and pushed for coaches that not only knew how to win, but could win with integrity. So sound was Sliger's philosophy regarding college athletics that he became one of the prime national movers in setting standards and giving direction from his position on the prestigious NCAA Council. He was the presidential point-man during the most recent push for reform in college sports. Under Sliger's leadership Florida State's women's sports programs began to flourish and non-revenue sports programs began making a national impact. During Sliger's tenure Florida State baseball teams went to 14 regional tournaments and five College World Series. FSU basketball enjoyed six NCAA Tournament trips and twice went to the NIT. But Bernie's pride and joy had to be FSU Football, which he saw rise to the absolute pinnacle of the sport. Thirteen bowl games in his 15 years bringing 11 championships. An unprecedented nine straight bowl games without a loss and four consecutive top four national finishes marked the end of his tenure. And as Sliger bade farewell he left a final legacy for the ages. For under his hand, Florida State University abandoned its independent status and aligned itself with the nation's most highly-regarded academic and athletic conference, the ACC. Dr. Bernie Sliger will be remembered for many, many things as time goes by, but he'll certainly remain most dear to those
who follow and support FSU athletics. Obituary for Bernard Francis Sliger From the Tallahassee Democrat, October 11, 2007, page 1. Beloved former FSU leader Bernie Sliger dies. By Gerald Ensley, Democrat senior writer Bernie Sliger, the most popular Florida State University president in history, has died. Sliger died Wednesday at a hospital in Marquette, Mich., while vacationing in his beloved Upper Peninsula, where he was born and raised. Sliger, 83, suffered an apparent stroke Monday after a walk along Lake Superior and never regained consciousness. He had a history of heart trouble and had been in declining health for more than a year. A Tallahassee funeral is tentatively planned for Tuesday, though details will be determined today. Sliger was the 10th president of FSU. He began as interim president in August 1976, became full-time president in February 1977 and retired in July 1991. He was responsible for bringing the Mag Lab, supercomputer and restoring an engineering school at FSU in conjunction with Florida A&M University. He spearheaded growth in enrollment, faculty hirings and financial contributions. He championed the renaissance of FSU sports. And he became beloved for his self-deprecating wit, common man tastes and keen intellect. "In all my dealings with him, I knew him as a very smart man without pretensions, rare enough around a university but rarer still was his great humanity and love for people," said former FSU president Sandy D'Alemberte. "He was a great president of FSU, a man without enemies and everyone who knew him will be sad." FSU honored Sliger in February with a convocation and a statue of him. Three former FSU colleagues recently published "Bernie, Simply Bernie," a collection of reminisces about Sliger by faculty, administrators, staff and alumni. "I really appreciate your coming out and paying me this honor I didn't deserve," Sliger said in February. "I didn't do nearly as many good things as y'all have said I did today." Sliger endeared himself to people with such humility - and the fact he didn't act like a president. His favorite garb was an untucked guayabera shirt. He was a roly poly 5-foot-9, 220 pounds and was forever dieting. He made an art form of walking the campus and talking to people. He held annual ice cream socials at which he played volleyball and Frisbee with students. He loved to eat, drink beer, shoot pool and watch sports. As the late Tallahassee Democrat sports editor Bill McGrotha observed upon Sliger's 1991 retirement: "Surely, he was a college president like no other," McGrotha wrote. "More one of us, you know, than one of them." Sliger's casual personality sometimes obscured his credentials as a brilliant economist, academician and leader. He took three degrees in economics from Michigan State University, then spent 19 years as an economics professor and administrator at Louisiana State University. He was a consultant to numerous boards and organizations and was consulted frequently by members of the Federal Reserve Board. He spent a stint as Secretary of Administration for Louisiana, a role in which he approved construction of the Louisiana Superdome. Ushering in a new era As FSU president, Sliger made FSU the fifth university in the nation with a supercomputer. He returned an engineering school to FSU in conjunction with Florida A&M. He helped convince the National Science Foundation to move the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory from Massachusetts Institute of Technology to FSU. FSU enrollment grew by more than a third under Sliger (21,000 students to 29,000 students) and the number of National Merit Scholars doubled to 150. Sliger's nearly 15-year tenure as president was third-longest in school history, behind only Edward Conradi (1909-1941) and Doak Campbell (1941-1957). "More than a third of our graduates have his name on their diploma," said retired FSU alumni director Jim Melton. Sliger also managed a little-noted transition at FSU, as the wave of post-World War II professors known as the "49ers" began retiring and FSU faculty hiring increased. "Bernie may have been one of the smartest people I have ever been around," said Charlie Reed, chancellor of the former Board of Regents that oversaw Florida universities, "When Bernie said something there was always something to it. He wasn't a blowhard. He was solid, stable and unflappable. And he provided stability to FSU at a time when it really needed it." The people's president Sliger was inordinately popular with FSU faculty because of his personality and openness. Sliger walked the campus incessantly, talking with faculty and staff about policies, plans and complaints - giving everyone the sense of having contributed to the decisions he ultimately made. "As fas as I'm concerned, there's never been a better president than Bernie," said FSU history professor James Jones, who joined the faculty in 1957. Sliger was accused of over-emphasizing athletics. He took over as president shortly after Bobby Bowden was hired in 1976 and twice rewarded Bowden with new contracts to keep him at FSU where Bowden has won two national championships. Sliger took a personal role in hiring men's basketball coach Pat Kennedy, who led FSU to five NCAA appearances. Sliger served on the NCAA Presidents Commission, where he was considered a leader. He won FSU membership in the Atlantic Coast Conference - despite a personal preference to have FSU join the Southeastern Conference. "Everyone said he (favored athletics)," Melton said. "But he just felt athletics would help the university in fund-raising and friend-raising - and it did both." Sliger's talents were recognized by other institutions. He was a finalist for the presidencies at LSU (1981) and the University of Houston (1983). In 1993, he was interviewed twice for the job of Major League Baseball commissioner, bowing out when FSU asked him to serve as interim president after the resignation of his successor, Dale Lick. "But for Bernie Sliger, FSU would not be the institution it is today," said current FSU President T.K. Wetherell. There will never be another Bernie." If Sliger had a weakness as president, it was in his distaste for fund-raising. He was a self-admitted non-salesman, who told stories of picking berries as a child then hiring another child to sell them for him. But after 1986, when Reed publicly chided him for his lack of fund-raising, Sliger went to work. In 1987, he helped raise $13 million, which was half again as much as FSU raised the previous year. He eventually landed 27 Eminent Scholar chairs, each of which required a $600,000 donation. He started FSU's first major capital gifts campaign. After his presidency, Sliger helped start the Gus Stavros Center, which teaches teachers how to teach economics. He was a fixture at FSU athletic contests and ceremonies. He retreated every summer to Trout Creek, Mich., the small town in the Upper Peninsula where he grew up and forever loved. He and his wife of 62 years, Greta, spent time with their four children and eight grandchildren. In September 1993, he suffered a stroke during open heart surgery. In March 2006, he was hospitalized for two weeks with heart and liver problems. At February's tribute to him, he appeared frail - but delivered an entertaining five-minute address. Among those in attendance was former State Rep. Marjorie Turnbull, whose late husband, Gus Turnbull, was FSU provost under Sliger. "I think in every university's history, there is one person who stands out as representative of that university,"
Turnbull said Wednesday. "For FSU, that was Bernie." |
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