Gene Derricotte, one of the University of Michigan’s first African-American athletes, who played on back-to-back national championship football teams in 1947 and 1948, earned degrees in pharmacy and dentistry, and had a long, decorated military career that included being an aviator with the famed Tuskegee Airmen, died March 31 in San Antonio.
Derricotte was 96. A memorial service will be held April 28 in Texas.
He was born June 14, 1926 in Fostoria, Ohio, and after graduating as valedictorian from Defiance (Ohio) High, he attended Michigan from June 1944 to December 1944. He was the first African-American to play in the offensive backfield for the Wolverines and started nine games at left halfback.