Johnny Gee - University of Michigan

University of Michigan

After graduating from high school, Gee enrolled at the University of Michigan in 1933. While attending Michigan, he played center for the Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team from 1934 to 1937. He was the tallest basketball player in the Western Conference at the time. As a sophomore, Gee was the second leading scorer on the 1934–35 Wolverines basketball team, scoring 64 points in 17 games. He added 74 points as a junior for 1935–36 basketball team and was selected as the captain of Michigan's 1936–37 team. Despite sustaining a broken nose, Gee scored 150 points in 18 games for the Wolverines during his senior year and helped lead the team to a 16–4 record.

Although known principally as a basketball player at Michigan, the school's baseball coach Ray Fisher, who had been a pitcher for the New York Yankees and Cincinnati Reds, persuaded Gee to play baseball as well. Gee was a pitcher for the Michigan Wolverines baseball team for three years from 1935 to 1937. On June 3, 1937, Gee struck out 21 batters and allowed only three hits in a 12–2 victory over the University of Toledo.

Gee received the Big Ten Medal of Honor in 1937 as the student in the University of Michigan graduating class who had best demonstrated proficiency in both scholarship and athletics. In addition to receiving six varsity letters in basketball and baseball, Gee was also a member of the Sphinx society at Michigan and of the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity. He graduated in 1937 with a bachelor of arts degree from the education school.