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Antonio Gates in Pro Football Hall of Fame | Kent State basketball star becomes NFL legend
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- Antonio Gates in Pro Football Hall of Fame | Kent State basketball star becomes NFL legend
Twenty-two years ago, Antonio Gates laced up his high-top basketball shoes and wowed a San Diego Chargers assistant coach during an under-the-radar workout at the Kent State Field House.
Gates looked the part of an NFL player, even though he had never played a down of college football.
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Former Chargers tight ends coach Tim Brewster is among the NFL talent evaluators who traveled to Kent State University to assess Gates . No one could have fathomed what Gates would achieve, transitioning from a Golden Flashes basketball star to a Chargers icon who will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Aug. 2 in Canton.
"I never had a vision of being in the Pro Football Hall of Fame," Gates told the Beacon Journal by phone. "Needless to say, it's an honor. It's football heaven. When I think about being in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I also think about the journey. That's what allows me to be emotional."
Gates will become the first player inducted into the Hall of Fame without appearing in a college football game.
The unprecedented trek to Canton began in earnest when Brewster encountered Gates for the first time during a no-frills pro day.
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"Nobody knew who he was," Brewster said. "Nobody gave a s***. Nobody wanted to come see him. I was the only tight ends coach that was there, and there were four other teams that showed up for the workout. I'm putting him through his paces, I'm putting him through the workout and I'm getting more excited by the minute."
Pro Football Hall of Fame: Antonio Gates leads smallest class in 20 years. Who's left out ... next?
Kent State University basketball standout Antonio Gates poses for a photo Dec. 14, 2001.
Kent State basketball coach Rob Senderoff sent letters to every NFL front office about Gates during his senior hoops season. Several franchises, including the Indianapolis Colts, sent scouts to watch Gates play basketball.
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In the ensuing months, the late KSU strength and conditioning coach Ken Long devised a pro day featuring Gates. Brewster took advantage of one-on-one time with Gates after all the scouts in attendance left after the main event.
"Tim Brewster came back with a bag of footballs and started having Tone run routes," said Senderoff, a KSU assistant coach during Gates' final college basketball season. "He had the best hands, [and they] were on display in that session with Tim Brewster throwing a hundred footballs to him. He caught every one."
Kent State senior forward Antonio Gates shoots over Eastern Michigan defenders Jan. 4, 2003, in Kent, Ohio.
Did Antonio Gates get drafted?
Brewster said Gates "made it look easy" during their pitch and catch. Upon returning to San Diego, Brewster tried to persuade the late Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer to draft Gates, but Schottenheimer said he wouldn't spend a pick on a prospect who had not played college football.
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If the Chargers were going to land Gates, it would be by signing him as an undrafted free agent. Brewster entered recruiting mode, calling his coveted target virtually every day in the month preceding the draft. The strategy worked.
"We developed a hell of a relationship. He wanted to come to San Diego," said Brewster, whose lengthy football resume includes four seasons (2007-10) as the University of Minnesota's head coach. "After the draft was over, I immediately got on the phone with him and gave him [a signing bonus of] $3,500, the absolute heist of the century in the National Football League to acquire a player of that ability."
Antonio Gates scored 116 receiving touchdowns in his career (2003-18), the most among any tight end in NFL history and the seventh most receiving TDs overall, entering the 2024 NFL season.
From Gates' perspective, his status as an undrafted free agent could be explained by more than an absence of college football experience.
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Gates said he hurt his knee during the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, the annual pre-NBA combine showcase held in Virginia for college seniors. He thought the injury prevented him from performing at his best during the subsequent pro day at Kent State.
"My lateral movement wasn't quite the same, and that ended up hurting me really bad," Gates said.
Brewster didn't mind. He actually wanted the pro day to end early, hoping scouts from other teams would have limited exposure to Gates. Brewster considered Gates' build, hands and movement skills he had demonstrated as a basketball player. Those attributes allowed Brewster to imagine what Gates could be as an NFL tight end.
More on Antonio Gates: Kent State and Chargers icon makes Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2025
Central Michigan's Brandon Voorhees defends Kent State's Antonio Gates during the Mid-American Conference Tournament in 2003 in Cleveland.
Did Antonio Gates ever play college football?
With Gates available after the seven-round draft, Brewster and Co. pounced. Still, the bargain the Chargers received didn't immediately dawn on everyone in their organization. To characterize Gates as a raw NFL rookie would be an understatement.
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"There was talk coming out of the first minicamp that Antonio Gates is not an NFL football player," Brewster said. "Basically, I said, 'Screw you, you, you and you. Fire me before you get rid of him because this guy right here is going to be a baller.'
"The kid couldn't get enough of it, and he worked his ass off. We just kept grinding and working, and every time that he got an opportunity to show a little something about himself, he did."
San Diego Chargers tight end Antonio Gates makes a catch for a short gain as Browns defensive back Mike Adams wraps him up Dec. 6, 2009, in Cleveland, Ohio.
Meanwhile, Gates maintained faith in his talent. Although Gates hadn't competed in an organized football game since his senior season at Central High School in Detroit, he believed he belonged in the NFL.
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Senderoff and former Kent State basketball coach Jim Christian called Gates as a tandem, asking for an update after his initial week of practices with the Chargers.
"The first words out of Antonio's mouth were, 'I'm the best they got.' That's him," Christian said. "He was like, 'Coach, I'm the best they got. Don't worry about it.'
"I'll never forget just the confidence he had in himself. It's like total Antonio, man. I wish more kids could have it."
That crucial ingredient played a part in Gates earning eight Pro Bowl selections and five Associated Press All-Pro nods (three first team, two second team). He compiled 955 catches for 11,841 yards and 116 touchdowns — the most receiving TDs by a tight end in NFL history. He spent his entire career with the Chargers, who moved back to Los Angeles in 2017, and holds franchise records for catches, yards and receiving TDs. In 12 playoff games, he added 51 catches for 540 yards and two touchdowns.
Los Angeles Chargers tight end Antonio Gates reacts during the opening day of training camp July 30, 2017, in Costa Mesa, California.
How did Chargers Hall of Famer Antonio Gates end up playing for Kent State basketball?
Gates needed to trust his innate gifts not only to last in the NFL for 16 seasons (2003-18), but also to salvage a winding journey through the college ranks by producing two phenomenal basketball seasons at Kent State.
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"He's probably the best basketball player to have put on a uniform here at Kent during my 20 years," said Senderoff, KSU's head coach for the past 14 seasons.
Gates signed with Michigan State to play football under coach Nick Saban, but unfulfilled academic requirements prevented him from playing as a freshman. Though he also intended to play basketball, Saban wanted him to prioritize football and his grades.
"I don't think he got the answer he wanted," said former Kent State basketball coach Stan Heath, a Michigan State assistant under coach Tom Izzo during Gates' brief MSU tenure.
Kent State's Antonio Gates defends Ohio's Brandon Hunter in the first half of a MAC Tournament game March 14, 2003, in Cleveland, Ohio.
Gates decided to transfer to Eastern Michigan, where he played 18 games during the 1999-2000 basketball season, averaging 10.2 points and 7.4 rebounds. However, more eligibility issues and a coaching change prompted Gates to leave EMU. He then attended two junior colleges before heading to Kent State.
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Heath was Kent State basketball's head coach when Gates joined the Golden Flashes. Fresno State had been attempting to lure Gates, too, while he attended the College of the Sequoias in nearby Visalia, California. Fresno State had a legendary coach, the late Jerry Tarkanian. But Heath knew Gates from Michigan State, and, more importantly, one of Heath's KSU assistants was Oronde Taliaferro.
Now the assistant general manager of the Phoenix Suns, Taliaferro served as Gates' head coach in basketball at Central High School. They won a state championship together in 1998. Gates earned first-team All-Michigan honors in football and basketball.
Could Antonio Gates have played in the NBA?
Gates planned to play both sports as a Kent State senior, but NBA dreams and a historic 2001-02 basketball season changed his mind. Basketball had always been his true passion.
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With Gates aboard for his junior season, the Golden Flashes advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. Tenth-seeded Kent State was eliminated with an 81-69 loss to eventual national runner-up Indiana, a No. 5 seed. KSU went 30-6, and Gates averaged 16 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists.
"You wouldn't have been able to tell me I wasn't going [to the NBA]," Gates said. "We had such an unbelievable run. I felt like we won the national championship. The run was that big at that university, and I was doing it against good players. We beat Pitt, we beat Alabama, we beat Oklahoma State [during March Madness]. I remember those guys were considered [NBA] draft picks. I was just thinking, 'Dude, I belong here.' … That run allowed me to kind of deviate from the idea of playing football."
Kent State's Antonio Gates reacts to a first-half call during the 2002 NCAA Tournament South Regional Final at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky.
As a senior, Gates was a Kent State basketball captain and the program's only returning starter. After the school's Elite Eight appearance, Heath became the head coach at Arkansas, and Christian succeeded him at KSU. The team viewed Gates as its undisputed leader and go-to player. Plus, Gates surmised he would not have received many targets as a tight end with Kent State football because running was the greatest strength of its star quarterback, Josh Cribbs.
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"I had so many responsibilities as a basketball player," Gates said. "It just didn't make sense for me to be a part of [the football team] at that time."
Gates stuck to basketball and continued to excel despite playing through a sprained medial collateral ligament he suffered midway through his senior season. Kent State went 21-10 in 2002-03, and Gates was named an honorable mention AP All-American. He averaged 20.6 points, 7.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists.
"I've been doing this for 30 years, and without question of the guys I've been around, and that's every level, he was the hardest guy to guard," said Christian, the head coach at Canisius University. "He was such a unique blend of skill. He had great skills and athleticism and strength, so he was just an impossible matchup."
Kent State's Antonio Gates, center, secures a second-half rebound against Alabama's Erwin Dudley in an NCAA Tournament South Regional second-round game March 16, 2002, in Greenville, S.C. Kent's John Edwards is on the left.
It wasn't always smooth sailing, though.
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A 6-foot-4, 260-pound point forward at Kent State, Gates vomited during a preseason conditioning test Heath orchestrated at the M.A.C. Center not long after the standout athlete's arrival on campus. The early stages of Gates' junior season were rocky, too. But once Gates worked his way into basketball shape, Heath said, he took off.
"His size, his strength, his IQ and his skills were just elite," said Heath, Eastern Michigan's head coach. "This guy could get a rebound, go coast to coast, make a pass, make a score. He could guard a 6-8 guy, and the guy couldn't move. He could guard big guys, but they couldn't guard him."
However, NBA talent evaluators in the early 2000s viewed Gates as an undersized post player, so everyone involved told him the NFL would be a safer bet. Gates and his former college basketball coaches opined he would have had a significantly greater chance to make it in the modern-day NBA amid the league's pace-and-space era.
"In today's NBA, they would have looked at him as a mismatch, combo-type guard," Senderoff said, "and someone probably would have given him a chance because of his unique skill set."
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How Antonio Gates broke out with the Chargers
Gates, 45, pointed to another reason his mindset shifted toward pursuing professional football. Some of his friends and acquaintances from Detroit had entered the NFL.
"I didn't really know what to expect with the NFL, but I felt like I was better than some of the dudes that were getting drafted," he said. "As a 21-, 22-year-old kid growing up, you've got to make the best decision for your future. I felt like football might be the way to go, just for the simple fact I saw so many guys who were generally in my space when I was in high school going pro."
In Week 5 of Gates' rookie season, he made his starting debut with the Chargers. Brewster said he had been "smitten" with Gates since they met at Kent State, though Schottenheimer needed more time to be convinced.
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"The big question with the hoopers is are they tough enough?" Brewster said. "Are they going to be physical enough?"
Chargers tight end Antonio Gates scores a touchdown against the Denver Broncos on "Monday Night Football" Oct. 15, 2012, in San Diego, California.
Gates didn't fear contact. He comes from a boxing family and learned moves as a kid from a former professional fighter, his late paternal grandfather Henry Hank.
A willingness to enter the fray as a rookie mattered. Brewster revealed Schottenheimer bought into Gates when the latter embraced run blocking on the head coach's favorite power play.
The next year, Gates caught a career-high 13 touchdowns and began a string of three consecutive first-team All-Pro seasons. He assembled eight seasons with eight-plus receiving touchdowns and 21 career multi-TD games. No other NFL tight end has accomplished those feats.
Kent State's Antonio Gates shoots over Central Michigan's Tony Bowne in a MAC tournament game March 15, 2003, in Cleveland, Ohio.
Early in Gates' NFL career, Heath visited him in San Diego. As they lunched, Heath asked Gates how he became a force for the Chargers so soon after his leap from Kent State.
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"He goes, 'I play football just like I play basketball,'" Heath recalled. "I said, 'What do you mean?' He goes, 'I just look at it as a mismatch. If I see a smaller guy on me, I just run a route and I post him up. If I see a bigger guy on me that's slow, I just try to get some separation and get open.' That's how he played basketball. If he saw smaller guys, he'd just bully them. If he saw bigger guys, he'd take them out on the perimeter, and he'd go by them."
The only glaring blemish on a career in which Gates earned a spot on the NFL's All-Decade Team of the 2000s is a four-game suspension he received in 2015 for violating the league's policy on performance-enhancing drugs. He blamed a failed drug test on a tainted supplement, telling USA TODAY Sports 10 years ago he had been flagged for an increased testosterone level.
Perhaps the suspension is a reason Gates fell short of being voted a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Widely viewed as a 2024 snub, Gates will take his place in Canton as a member of the Class of 2025 during his second year of eligibility.
Los Angeles Chargers tight end Antonio Gates stands on the field during warm-ups before an AFC wild card playoff game against the Baltimore Ravens on Jan 6, 2019, in Baltimore, Maryland.
While Gates reflected on the unconventional path he traveled to the Hall of Fame, he said, "I couldn't imagine this in a million years."
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Gates also could not have predicted he would go wire to wire with the Chargers. Although Gates remained assured of his abilities, he never abandoned the mentality of an undrafted free agent on the roster bubble.
"I was always afraid of getting cut, even though I was All Pro," Gates said. "At one point, I was the highest-paid player on our team. I was just always afraid of getting cut."
It's the same sense of urgency Gates harnessed to redefine himself after never playing college football.
Nate Ulrich is the sports columnist of the Akron Beacon Journal and a sports features writer. Nate can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com . On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich .
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Antonio Gates' path from Kent State to Hall of Fame stirs up emotions
