| Wins against Kentucky - 3 | Losses against Kentucky - 8 |
Alma Mater: Notre Dame [1946] (*)
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Date Born: September 12, 1923
Date Died: April 24, 1999
Overall Record: 184-105 [11 Seasons]

Obituary - Chicago Tribune (April 25, 1999)

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Johnny Dee, who coached Notre Dame's basketball team to the first four 20-victory seasons in its history, died early Saturday in Denver at the age of 75. He was diagnosed with cancer less than a year ago.

Dee, a graduate of Loyola University and Loyola Academy, was the head football and basketball coach at St. Mel's High School while attending Notre Dame Law School during the summers. He coached the Fighting Irish to 116 victories and a winning percentage of .592 from 1964-65 through 1970-71. His final team, led by All-America guard Austin Carr, gave UCLA its last loss before the Bruins built their record 88-game winning streak.

Dee established the recruiting pipeline that linked Notre Dame with outstanding prospects from the Washington, D.C., area. His Irish teams made four NCAA tournament appearances in his seven seasons, reaching two regional semifinals. He began and ended his college career at Loyola.

After serving in the Coast Guard for nearly two years during World War II, Dee enrolled at Notre Dame, where he was a starting basketball forward for two seasons and a reserve quarterback for the football team.

Dee's career was marked by his colorful, innovative style, an entrepreneurial sense that was ahead of its time in the coaching profession, and his playful jabs at opponents. The jabs could be pointed, or subtle, or both.

In the heat of the Notre Dame-Marquette rivalry, Al McGuire's players would run and shake the coach's hand when they were introduced. Gene Sullivan, an assistant to Dee for four seasons, remembered that his old boss did not approve of the "hot dog" gesture.

So when one particularly flamboyant Marquette player, forward Gary Brell, came away from his handshake with Dee, Brell discovered that the Irish coach had slipped a small packet of mustard into his hand.

After his departure from Notre Dame, Dee returned to Denver, where he had coached the Denver Truckers of the National Industrial Basketball League. He was the manager of parks and recreation for the city of Denver, practiced law, and became city auditor.

While at Notre Dame, he marketed a line of athletic shoes and socks: Johnny Dee's MVP's. He was a good-natured antagonist of Adolph Rupp's Kentucky teams, a relationship that could be traced to Dee's success at the University of Alabama.

Dee led Alabama to an SEC championship in 1956, a time when conference members were far more interested in football and Kentucky dominated in basketball.

The rivalry resumed when the Irish met Kentucky on a "neutral floor" in Louisville. Sullivan remembered sitting in the dressing room shortly before one of those games. His coach was not in the room.

"I heard this big noise," Sullivan remembered. "He's standing at midcourt, and the place is going crazy. I said, 'What happened?' He said, 'I told them I wouldn't play with the ball because it had Adolph Rupp's name on it.' "

Dee and his late wife, Katherine, are survived by three children: Melinda, Dennis and John III. Funeral arrangements were pending.

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