Horace Eugene Ransom II (January 21, 1957 - February 4, 2022), was a prominent basketball player for the University of California, Berkeley, Golden Bears from 1975 to 1978.

“Gene is the only person that I know that they could sell out the Oakland Coliseum for a high school basketball game,” said Harris, a filmmaker who has captured Ransom’s accomplishments, along with those of many other athletes, on camera.

Sports journalists started calling the rising Berkeley star a nickname that followed him throughout his career: Gene “the Dream” Ransom.

[1] Ransom averaged 14.8 points per game in his college career, and led Cal's Golden State Bears in assists all three years that he played.

[1] With his stepson Jonathon Smith, Ransom also started Dynasty Basketball, an Amateur Athletic Union summer team for promising high school players.

While taking classes at the New College of California in San Francisco, he had written a proposal for a comprehensive program for high school athletes, complete with study sessions and community service as equal components with practice and games.