In his junior season in 1969, the team was off to a 4–0 start, ranked #16 in the AP poll,[1] and appeared headed for a fourth straight conference title.
But on Friday, October 17, the day before the home game against BYU, McGee and thirteen other African American players went to head coach Lloyd Eaton's office to discuss how they might participate in a protest called by the UW Black Students Alliance against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints tenet which prohibited black men from becoming priests.
As soon as Eaton saw them wearing black arm bands, he took them into the Memorial Fieldhouse bleachers and immediately informed them they were all off the team because they violated the coach's rule against participating in demonstrations.
Although the suddenly all-white Cowboys defeated BYU and San Jose State to improve to 6–0, they lost their four road games in November.
McGee played 14 years as a defensive lineman in the NFL with the Chicago Bears (1971–73), New England Patriots (1974–81), and Washington Redskins (1982–85).