Former Ark City Bulldog Matt Gee during his time as a linebacker for the University of Southern California, where he was the team’s captain in 1991. (Photo courtesy USC Athletics)
Funeral services are this week for former Ark City Bulldog and University of Southern California standout Matt Gee.
Gee, who was the Trojans’ 1991 captain when he led the football team in tackles, died in his sleep Dec. 31 in Simi Valley, Calif., according to a news release from the University of Southern California. He was 49.
A service will be held Thursday at 11 a.m. at Ascension Lutheran Church in Thousand Oaks, Calif., followed by a reception at North Ranch Center in Westlake Village, Calif.
A graveside service will be Saturday at 1 p.m. at Parker Cemetery in Ark City.
Gee, a 1988 graduate of Ark City High School, had 210 career tackles at USC, including 97 as a senior in 1991. He was a member of USC’s 1989 and 1990 Rose Bowl squads, the latter of which featured USC facing Troy Aikman’s UCLA Bruins. The previous Rose Bowl featured the Trojans against Lloyd Carr’s Michigan Wolverines.
Gee in a high school yearbook photo. (Courtesy photo)
Gee also was a javelin thrower on the Trojan track and field team.
At Arkansas City High he was a prep All-American linebacker and fullback. In 1987, he also won the state’s javelin and shot put titles as a junior when he had the nation’s best high school mark in the javelin.
After USC, he started his own insurance agency in Simi Valley.
Jack Crumbliss, who was the defensive coordinator for the Ark City High School football team when Gee was a student at ACHS told KSOK-NewsCow Sunday evening it was obvious to him from the start Gee was a special athlete.
Gee from his ACHS days, pictured back row with arms folded. (Courtesy photo)
“First of all, he came from a great family, and he was just a great kid,” he said. “A lot of fun, great to work with, coachable and lots of friends. An extremely talented athlete and could do whatever he wanted to in sports… the thing about him in football was that he was just so much bigger, stronger and faster than everybody else — everybody else was a mismatch to him.
“I think he enjoyed it and was just a very good talent. And obviously he was since the University of Southern California recruited him from here, so that says a lot. He had a lot of other people interested in him.”
Crumbliss, who was later the head coach for the Bulldogs and served the program and Ark City athletics in several capacities until 2006, said it was easy to see Gee’s abilities were at a different level.
“Unbelievable,” he said. “First time I ever saw him we had him on the freshman team and kind of thought he ought to be playing varsity — he was that type of kid. Just a great talent.”
Crumbliss said the last time he spoke with Gee was approximately 10 years ago during Arkalalah festivities and said he seemed to be doing well. The news of his passing was shocking to Crumbliss.
“It was devastating to hear that,” he said. “I couldn’t hardly believe it. All I can say is that he was a great guy.”
He is survived by his wife, Alana, and his children, Tucker, Tanner and Malia; his parents Ron and Charlotte Gee of Ark City; and brother Mitch and sister Kindal, both of the Wichita area.
