.jpeg) Gates circa 1952 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1917-08-30)August 30, 1917 Decatur, Alabama, U.S. |
| Died | December 1, 1999(1999-12-01) (aged 82) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Listed height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
| Listed weight | 205 lb (93 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Benjamin Franklin (Harlem, New York) |
| Position | Guard |
| Career history | |
Playing | |
| 1937–1938 | New York Harlem Yankees |
| 1938–1941, 1942–1946 | New York Renaissance |
| 1941–1946 | Washington Lichtman Bears |
| 1941–1944 | Long Island Grumman Flyers |
| 1944–1945 | Rochester |
| 1944–1946 | Long Island Grumman Hellcats |
| 1945–1946 | Chicago Monarchs |
| 1946–1947 | Buffalo Bisons / Tri-Cities Blackhawks |
| 1947–1949 | New York Rens |
| 1949 | Dayton Rens |
| 1949–1950 | Scranton Miners |
| 1950–1957 | Harlem Globetrotters |
| 1951–1952 | New York Celtics |
Coaching | |
| 1949 | Dayton Rens |
| 1950–1955 | Harlem Globetrotters |
| Career highlights | |
| Basketball Hall of Fame | |
William Penn "Pop"Gates (August 30, 1917 – December 1, 1999) was an American professionalbasketball player. Considered one of the top players of his day, he was the firstAfrican American player signed to theNational Basketball League, which through merger became today'sNational Basketball Association.
He was born inDecatur, Alabama and attended high school in New York City. During high school studies he earned All-Conference honors in both 1937 and 1938 and made the All-City first team in 1938, as well as won three All-City titles with YMCA teams.[1] Some later newspaper publications claimed that Gates graduated from Clark College (nowClark Atlanta University), but in fact his professional basketball career started right after graduating fromFranklin High School.[2]
Gates started his professional basketball career with theNew York Renaissance, beginning in 1938–39. Seven months before Jackie Robinson made his debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers,Leo Ferris helped usher in a new era of racial integration for professional basketball when he signed Pop Gates, who made his debut for theBuffalo Bisons (later Tri-Cities Blackhawks) in October 1946. Despite the Buffalo Bisons moving fromBuffalo, New York toMoline, Illinois (as a part of what was called the "Tri-Cities" area at the time) and seeing him facing some risks with moving to a place could be seen as more allowing forracial segregation problems at the time the move happened, Gates would still be one of eight players from that original Buffalo Bisons NBL team from 1946 to turn into the Tri-Cities Blackhawks byChristmas of 1946 and continue to this present day as theAtlanta Hawks that played for both teams from their inaugural NBL season of existence there.[3][4]
Gates, along withWilliam "Dolly" King, were the first two African-American players in theNational Basketball League (NBL) in 1946. "When Leo Ferris came to me, it was like a godsend", Gates was quoted as saying in the book "Pioneers of the Hardwood: Indiana and the Birth of Professional Basketball." "It was a real highlight of my career to be accepted by the NBL as one of only two blacks in the league."[5]
Later Gates played for and coached theHarlem Globetrotters. He is one of the few athletes who went directly from a high school championship team (Benjamin Franklin, New York, 1938) to a world professional champion (New York Rens, 1939).
Gates was inducted into theNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 1989.
| GP | Games played | FGM | Field goals made |
| FTM | Free throws made | FTA | Free throws attempted |
| FT% | Free throw percentage | PTS | Totalpoints |
| PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
| Year[6] | Team | GP | FGM | FTM | PTS | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1946–47 | Buffalo / Tri-Cities | 41 | 125 | 60 | 310 | 7.6 |
| 1948–49 | Dayton | 40 | 161 | 126 | 448 | 11.2 |
| Career | 81 | 286 | 186 | 758 | 9.4 | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
