Former college basketball star and all-time great NFL tight end Antonio Gates is set to make history as the first player inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame without ever playing a single snap of college football. The reason Gates never saw the football field in college is that he spent his time back then dominating on the basketball court.
The Detroit native originally committed to Michigan State on a football scholarship, but at the time Spartans head coach Nick Saban would not allow him to play basketball as well. As a result, Gates transferred to Eastern Michigan and then the College of the Sequoias, a junior college in California, playing one year of basketball at each school. He finally landed on his feet when transferring to Kent State in 2001 and became part of the school's basketball team.
In his two seasons with the Golden Flashes, Gates was a dominant power forward. As a junior, he averaged 16 points and 8.1 rebounds per game on a Kent State team that captured its first MAC Championship in school history. The team then made a remarkable run in the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the Elite Eight as a 10 seed with upset victories over Oklahoma State, Alabama, and Pitt.
In the 2002 NCAA Tournament, Gates averaged an impressive 18.8 points and 7.3 rebounds per game and was named to the All-South Regional Team. The Golden Flashes finished the season with a 30–6 record, which remains the best in Kent State basketball history and is the last time the program won a game in the NCAA Tournament.
While the team did not reach the same heights in his final season, Gates had a stellar senior campaign averaging over 20 points per game and earning First-Team All-MAC honors as well as Honorable Mention All-American.
#TBT in honor of the NFL's greatest TE, Kent State's own Antonio Gates. pic.twitter.com/z07zAadmJ8
— Kent State Men's Basketball (@KentStMBB) September 21, 2017
After the chances of an NBA career did not look promising, Gates decided to return to the other sport that he once dominated at the high school level. After his first workout with an NFL team, the San Diego Chargers signed him as an undrafted free agent, and the rest is history. Nearly 12,000 receiving yards, all-time leader in touchdowns by a tight end with 116, eight Pro Bowl selections, three First-Team All-Pro honors, and now a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
What makes Gates' football career even more special is that he spent all 16 seasons with the same team. That team being the Chargers who recognized his talent immediately and gave him a shot, despite never playing a single snap of college football.
His talent and athleticism were evident in basketball and his unique ability to use his body to create and own space on the court helped him become one of the greatest tight ends of all time. His play on the court even directly translated over to the football field, especially with his box-out technique, that has become a huge part of football today, or the countless jump balls/rebounds in the end zone.
Gates even said, “The exact same way I played tight end is the exact same way I play basketball,” which sheds light on the crossover we have seen become prevalent between basketball players and the tight end position. Just this year, Clemson’s Ian Schieffelin will be a TE for the Tigers football team, and former Coastal Carolina big man Colin Granger got a shot with the Carolina Panthers despite, like Gates, never playing a snap of college football.
As a dominant mid-major college basketball player who helped lead a memorable NCAA Tournament run, Gates feels like the perfect guy to represent college basketball in the Hall. With his No. 44 jersey retired at Kent State and a bust soon to be enshrined in Canton Ohio, Antonio Gates' greatness in two sports is truly one of a kind, and this feat of being the first player inducted into Pro Football Hall of Fame without playing a single snap of college football is one that I will confidently say we will never see happen again.