Where did Antonio Gates play basketball? Revisiting Hall of Famer's college stats before NFL career

Dan Treacy

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Where did Antonio Gates play basketball? Revisiting Hall of Famer's college stats before NFL career image

Antonio Gates' NFL career serves as a reminder that talent can be found anywhere. 

A basketball player in college, Gates latched on with the Chargers as an undrafted free agent and became a Hall of Fame tight end, serving as one of Philip Rivers' most trusted targets for well over a decade.

Gates not only became one of the NFL's greatest undrafted success stories, but he set the stage for more teams to experiment with basketball players at the tight end position, from Jimmy Graham to Mo Alie-Cox to Rico Gathers.

Here's what you need to know about Gates' basketball career and where he spent his playing days in college.

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Where did Antonio Gates play basketball?

Gates played college basketball at Kent State in Ohio after starting his career at Eastern Michigan. He initially enrolled at Michigan State but balked when Nick Saban wanted him to focus solely on football and change positions. 

There are a handful of NFL players who only dabbled in basketball, but Gates was all about basketball — and he was a legitimate force for the Golden Flashes. A bulky forward, Gates started 15 games as a freshman at Eastern Michigan before transferring to a junior college to prioritize academics.

After being recruited by Kent State, Gates spent two seasons with the Golden Flashes as a full-time starter and one of the focal points of the team. He averaged 20.6 points per game as a senior, fourth among all players in the MAC on a leaderboard that included future NBA big man Chris Kaman. 

Gates' success translated to wins for Kent State, and the Golden Flashes went on a run in 2002 that helped put him on the map. Kent State went all the way to the Elite Eight as a No. 10 seed, knocking off Oklahoma State, Alabama, and Pittsburgh before falling to Indiana. Gates scored a game-high 22 points in Kent State's overtime Sweet 16 win over Pitt.

The Golden Flashes won 21 games in Gates' final season but missed the NCAA Tournament. 

Originally from Michigan, Gates shined as a basketball player in the Midwest but made a name for himself out West in San Diego where the Chargers played the first 14 seasons of his 16-year Hall of Fame career. 

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Antonio Gates college basketball stats

Gates spent three seasons at the Division I level, averaging double-digit points per game in each season and topping out at 20.6 points per game in his final season at Kent State. Gates also averaged more than seven rebounds per game in each of his three seasons. 

SeasonSchoolGamesPPGRPGAPGSTLFG%
1999-00Eastern Michigan1810.27.41.31.051.8%
2001-02Kent State3616.08.12.71.251.8%
2002-03Kent State3120.67.74.11.547.8%
Career 8516.57.82.91.250.0%

Did Antonio Gates play college football?

Gates never played football at the collegiate level, though he intended to do so at Michigan State while still playing basketball. When forced to choose between one or the other, Gates transferred to Eastern Michigan to play basketball.

After receiving tepid interest from NBA teams, Gates arranged workouts with NFL teams and signed with the Chargers after the first one. 

Now one of nine tight ends in the Hall of Fame more than two decades later, Gates has the distinction of entering Canton without having played a down of college football. 

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Antonio Gates basketball highlights

Dan Treacy

Dan Treacy is a content producer for Sporting News, joining in 2022 after graduating from Boston University. He founded @allsportsnews on Instagram in 2012 and has written for Lineups and Yardbarker.