2026-07-06 19:34:35 Super Bowl coin flip honor for 100-year-old Tuskegee Airman from Bethesda – NEW WTOP Skip to main content

Super Bowl coin flip honor for 100-year-old Tuskegee Airman from Bethesda

By Neal Augenstein

Col. Charles McGee, right, a Tuskegee Airman during World War II, participates in the coin toss before the NFL Super Bowl 54 game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday, Feb. 2, 2020, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Back in 1967, before it was even dubbed Super Bowl I, retired Air Force Col. Charles McGee, of Bethesda, Maryland, was serving in Vietnam, after already fighting in Korea and as a Tuskegee Airman in World War II. Now, during Super Bowl LIV, McGee took part in the ceremonial coin toss at midfield. Over the course of a 30 year military career, McGee flew 409 fighter combat missions, more than any other U.S. serviceman. He watched as the San Francisco 49ers won the toss.

McGee flew 136 combat missions in World War II, as part of the Tuskegee Airmen, the only African-American pilot squadron in the war. When he turned 100, in December 2019, McGee told WTOP he attributed his longevity to “thinking positive and the good Lord’s many blessings.” With a lifetime of service to his country, McGee downplayed his contributions: “We human beings are just one small aspect in a mighty grand world.” Retired Tuskegee Airman Air Force Colonel Charles McGee spoke with WTOP’s Kristi King in December 2019, when he turned 100 years old: 

‘They don’t care’ — Rodents, crowding, maintenance problems in a Montgomery County school

By Ken Duffy
One of the elementary schools with one of the highest minority populations in Maryland's Montgomery County has been plagued with overcrowding, collapsing ceilings, overheating and other problems for years, say parents, activists and educators. One teacher shared video of vermin running around her classroom at night. And scheduled fixes, already years off, have been postponed. In this story only on WTOP, those problems have some parents claiming race is involved. At the same time, county officials, including a Black council member, deny the charge and say help is on the way, and the president of the PTA recently said, “I don't believe anything they actually have to say.”
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