He won national championship (NCAA) titles in Baseball, Basketball and Football with the Columbia Lions where he was the most valuable and popular player.

[citation needed] The following year, Gehrke played shortstop for Columbia’s 1944 championship baseball team, while training for the Navy.

Hugely popular among his teammates and fellow students, Gehrke had that intangible flair for color that made him a crowd pleaser.

to be the only Columbia University student to earn 12 varsity letters and start for a team i.e. football, basketball, baseball each season.

He graduated from Columbia in 1948, finishing a phenomenal career that included a league title in baseball, two in basketball as well as some of the Lions’ most successful football seasons.