Mickey Holmes, ex-Sugar Bowl director, dies at 72

NEW ORLEANS - Mickey Holmes, executive director of the Sugar Bowl during the period when coaches Bear Bryant, Vince Dooley and Joe Paterno won national championships there, has died. He was 72.

Holmes died Wednesday after a long illness, Sugar Bowl spokesman John Sudsbury said.

A native of Maynard, Iowa, Holmes was executive director of the college football event from 1979 to 1993, beginning and ending his Sugar Bowl tenure with Alabama winning national championships there.

Holmes took over management of the Sugar Bowl in May 1979. His first Sugar Bowl as its executive director came a few months later when Bryant won his final national title on Jan. 1, 1980. Bryant's undefeated Alabama team beat coach Lou Holtz's Arkansas squad 24-9.

Holmes' final Sugar Bowl as director came in '93 when No. 2 Alabama defeated No. 1 Miami 34-13 for the national championship.

Holmes served in conference administration for nearly 20 years before joining the Sugar Bowl. In 1964, he was an assistant commissioner with the Big Eight Conference and was commissioner of the Missouri Valley Conference in 1972.- AP