Professional Basketball
Gee played semi-professional basketball during the 1941–42 basketball season. He was the starting center for the Celtics in the Herald-Journal League.
In January 1946, a Syracuse newspaper reported that Turk Karam, manager of the Syracuse Stars basketball team, was hoping to sign Gee. At the time, Gee was a physical education instructor in Waterloo, New York, and reported to be "in the best of physical condition and ready for competition." In March 1946, Gee was reportedly playing with an All-Syracuse basketball team that was combined with Karam's Syracuse Stars. He also played for the Auburn All-Stars in a March 1946 games against the Harlem Globe Trotters; Gee was the leading scorer in the game with 14 points.
Gee joined the Syracuse Nationals for the 1946–47 season, the team's inaugural season in the National Basketball League. (The Nationals would become one of the original teams in the National Basketball Association when it was established in 1949.) While playing for the Nationals, Gee continued with his teaching job in Waterloo. Because of his obligations as a teacher, Gee was unable to travel with the team on most road trips and appeared only in home games. On November 14, 1946, Gee was the high scorer for the Nationals in the team's first victory, and first home game, in the National Basketball League. Gee scored 17 points, 10 in the second half, before he fouled out of the game. The Nationals won the game by a 67–64 score against the Youngstown Bears in front of 1,600 spectators in Syracuse.
By January 1947, the Stars had acquired a full-time center who could play on road trips, and Gee was no longer the starting center. However, he was reportedly "clicking" as a replacement. In March 1947, Joe Reichler wrote a nationally syndicated story for the Associated Press about the influx of Major League Baseball players into the newly-formed professional basketball leagues. Reichler cited Gee, Howard Schultz, and Frankie Baumholtz as the first group to make the jump. He noted: "Another who appears to prefer basketball to baseball is Long Johnny Gee, the 6–9 New York Giants southpaw who has balked at signing the baseball club's terms and is content to star for the Nationals."
During the 1947–48 season, Gee played professional basketball for the Oneida Indians from Oneida, New York.
During the 1949–50 NBA season, Gee served as a game official. He officiated in a game between Syracuse and Baltimore in October 1949. He also played for the Oneida Indians and scored 19 points against the Syracuse Nationals in an exhibition game in late October 1949. He also played for the Elmira Knapps and scored 14 points in a January 1950 exhibition game against Syracuse.
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