COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) – The group of Kansas City business leaders who tried unsuccessfully to keep Missouri from leaving the Big 12 Conference for the SEC included former University of Missouri president Gary Forsee.

Forsee was among a group that included Sporting Kansas City soccer team owner Neal Patterson and Hallmark president Don Hall Jr.

Patterson is also CEO of Cerner, a Kansas City-based medical records company.

Forsee, a former Sprint Nextel CEO, stepped down from his university presidency in January 2011. Emails obtained by the Tribune show that Forsee wrote a memo in late October urging Missouri curators and chancellor Brady Deaton to stay in the Big 12. Another participant said Forsee never sent the appeal.

One week later, Missouri announced its move to the Southeastern Conference.