Editing Southeastern Conference (section)

===Founding===
The SEC was established December 8 and 9, 1932, in Knoxville, Tennessee, at the Farragut Hotel, when the thirteen members of the large [[Southern Conference]] located west and south of the [[Appalachian Mountains]] left to form their own conference. Ten of the thirteen founding members have remained in the conference since its inception: the [[University of Alabama]], [[Auburn University]], the [[University of Florida]], the [[University of Georgia]], the [[University of Kentucky]], [[Louisiana State University]] ("LSU"), the [[University of Mississippi]] ("Ole Miss"), [[Mississippi State University]], the [[University of Tennessee]], and [[Vanderbilt University]]. The SEC had no formal headquarters during its first eight years of existence, but in 1940, former [[Governor of Mississippi]] [[Martin S. Conner|Martin "Mike" Conner]] was named the conference's first president, with the league establishing its first corporate headquarters on the 13th floor of the [[Standard Life Building (Jackson, Mississippi)|Standard Life Building]] in downtown [[Jackson, Mississippi]]. The SEC office remained there until 1948, when it moved to [[Birmingham, Alabama]], where it remains.<ref>"Original SEC Office," ''HMdb.com: The Historical Marker Database'' [https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=178426]. Accessed 19 October 2024.</ref> The three founding members that have since left the conference are [[Sewanee Tigers football|Sewanee]], who left after the 1940 season to drop all athletic scholarships and become a [[NCAA Division III|D-III]] Independent; [[Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football|Georgia Tech]], who left after the 1963 season and became a D-I Independent; and [[Tulane Green Wave football|Tulane]], who left after the 1965 season and became a D-I Independent.

In 1935, the SEC became the first conference to legalize [[athletic scholarships]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Madsen |first1=Rob |date=Spring 2023 |title=The Cost of Conservatism: The University of Minnesota's Lofted Ideals and Fallen Football Teams |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/34/article/918698 |journal=Journal of Sport History |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=85–100 |doi= 10.5406/21558450.50.1.06|access-date=}}</ref>