Jim and Jane E. Lee Papers

James Hugh “Jimmy” Lee was born on September 24, 1905, in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Lee and his family moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, in the early 1920s. In 1926, Lee graduated from Mechanic Arts High School.

Over the next 30 years, Lee worked for the Pullman Company as a porter, a doorman at the University Club of St. Paul, and as a Boy’s Worker and later, the athletic director at Hallie Q. Brown Community House. From there, Lee began his officiating career, working for Saint Paul Municipal Athletics. He officiated for softball, baseball, basketball, and football games. An avid participant and fan of sports, Lee would go on to play on the Uptown Sanitary Shop and the Twin City Colored Gophers, two of the most renowned Black baseball teams of his time. He also played for the Colored All Stars and the St. Paul Monarchs. He also wrote columns for the Minneapolis Spokesman for over a decade. His stories focused on Black athletes at the high school, college, amateur and professional levels.

In 1934, Lee married Jane Elizabeth Mitchell. Jane was born in Pulaski, Tennesse, on July 13, 1908. Like Lee, her and her family also moved to Minnesota during the Great Migration, eventually settling in Minneapolis. She graduated from Central High School and moved to St. Paul following her marriage to Jimmy. In 1972, Lee was inducted into the Minnesota Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Jimmy Lee passed away November 25, 1979.