Why Antonio Gates was necessary to the NFL and to San Diego

There wasn’t a lot for Chargers followers to cheer about in Los Angeles’ 2023 recreation towards the Denver Broncos in Week 14.

A season after one of many most embarrassing playoff losses in NFL historical past, the Chargers got here into the marketing campaign motivated to avenge that defeat and attain their potential of contending for a championship. As an alternative, on this Sunday, they have been 5-7, and their playoff probabilities have been nearly gone. SoFi Stadium, their dwelling stadium, was coated in Denver orange by Broncos followers.

Then quarterback Justin Herbert suffered a season-ending proper index finger fracture within the first quarter, and as he exited, so did the Chargers’ season.

However amid a day and a season of disappointment, the group gave reeling followers a purpose to smile. At halftime, the workforce held a ceremony to induct tight finish Antonio Gates into the Chargers Corridor of Fame.

“To the town of San Diego,” Gates stated, pausing because the Chargers contingent roared as loudly because it had that afternoon. “You supported me. You embraced a 22-year-old child from Detroit, and you’ll all the time be my second dwelling.”

Gates performed 16 seasons within the NFL, 14 in San Diego and two in Los Angeles after the workforce relocated. That transfer remains to be a sore spot for some followers who have been mum when Gates thanked Los Angeles and booed loudly when Gates thanked workforce proprietor Dean Spanos and the Spanos household.

Whereas Gates by no means received a championship, he was partly answerable for ushering in an thrilling period of Chargers soccer that featured a number of the most profitable seasons in franchise historical past. The roars that day for Gates have been a reminder of how a lot Gates meant to a metropolis that had embraced him as their very own.

As Gates is inducted into the Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame with Saturday’s enshrinement, many in San Diego shall be cheering the loudest.

“He was a man who simply match the town,” stated David Droegemeier, a San Diego native and co-host of the “Locked on Chargers” podcast. “A man who appears like he is acquired to be from right here despite the fact that he wasn’t. He was ours.”

From the start, Gates’ journey to the NFL appeared farfetched.

Upon leaving Detroit Central Excessive College, Gates accepted a soccer scholarship from Michigan State, which was then led by coach Nick Saban. However Saban would not let Gates play each soccer and basketball. Gates left Michigan State and by no means performed soccer in faculty.

After stops at Jap Michigan and the Faculty of the Sequoias, a neighborhood faculty in Visalia, California, Gates ended up at Kent State as a junior and have become probably the greatest basketball gamers in program historical past. As a junior, Gates led Kent State, a 10-seed, to the Elite Eight in 2002, the deepest run the college has ever made within the NCAA event. His jersey — No. 44 — was retired in 2010, as Gates grew to become the fourth males’s basketball participant in class historical past to obtain such an honor.

Regardless of Gates’ dominance at Kent State, he wasn’t projected to be an NBA participant primarily due to his measurement; he was a 6-foot-4 energy ahead, a place the place NBA gamers are on common about 5 inches taller. So, Gates turned again to soccer, understanding for NFL groups, who have been intrigued by his bodily traits. The Chargers determined to signal him as an undrafted free agent in 2003, however he was a protracted shot to make the workforce.

Linebacker Stephen Cooper, an undrafted free agent like Gates, was Gates’ roommate on the Vacation Inn throughout that 2003 coaching camp. Because the Chargers started to make remaining cuts, Cooper remembers the workforce having two spots left, however he and Gates had satisfied themselves that simply considered one of them would make the workforce.

After they discovered they each did, that they had a muted celebration of their lodge room; it is a second Cooper will always remember, particularly contemplating how a lot Gates would go on to perform as a good finish.

“We ran across the room attempting to not be too loud and excited simply because we did not wish to be disrespectful to our different teammates who did not make it,” stated Cooper, who performed 9 seasons for the Chargers. “Out of all of the moments with Antonio, that is one I bear in mind probably the most.”

Gates’ success modified the tight finish place. His basketball background was evident in how he boxed out defenders and high-pointed the soccer like he was getting a rebound on the hardwood.

Present Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh stated Gates stands out as the primary tight finish to be the focus of a workforce’s offense: “First man I can bear in mind catching 10, 12, 13, 14 balls in a recreation … best of all time.”

Gates’ achievements made groups at each stage take probabilities on former basketball gamers. Essentially the most notable is tight finish Jimmy Graham, who performed one 12 months of soccer after 4 years on the College of Miami’s basketball workforce. Graham was drafted within the third spherical by the New Orleans Saints and went on to change into one of many league’s greatest tight ends. He performed 13 seasons and made 5 Professional Bowls.

“With out [Gates], I would not have even been given this chance or been given the chance to play in faculty,” Graham instructed reporters in 2012. “He paved the best way for me.”

Whereas Gates’ measurement wasn’t a match for NBA energy ahead, he made a really perfect NFL tight finish. He was too fast to be coated by most linebackers and too robust to be coated by defensive backs, placing D-coordinators in a bind every week.

“You knew if a workforce desires to go one-on-one with him, he’ll kill them,” former Chargers security Eric Weddle stated. “He was a matchup nightmare.”

It did not take lengthy for Gates to change into one of many league’s greatest tight ends. He was a first-team All-Professional by his second season, the primary of three consecutive picks. Gates’ breakout got here in his second marketing campaign, in 2004, when he completed with 964 yards and 13 touchdowns. Within the first recreation that season, the Chargers confronted the Houston Texans, with whom present Chargers offensive coordinator Greg Roman was the workforce’s quarterbacks coach. Gates caught each goal, ending with eight receptions for 123 yards within the win.

“It does not occur fairly often the place you go, ‘Who is that this man?'” Roman stated with a smile. “However everyone on the sideline was going, ‘Who is that this man?'”

Gates is the NFL’s all-time chief in receiving touchdowns by a good finish (116) and the Chargers’ all-time chief in receptions (955) and receiving yards (11,841). Behind these stats are the various accidents his former teammates bear in mind Gates enjoying by way of.

Forward of the 2007 AFC Championship Recreation, Gates’ standing was unsure. He had dislocated his large toe within the Chargers’ win within the wild-card spherical over the Tennessee Titans; the damage was extreme sufficient that he left the sport on a medical cart. Nonetheless, Gates performed by way of it within the Chargers’ divisional-round win over the Indianapolis Colts and their AFC Championship Recreation loss to the New England Patriots.

Former Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman stated the picture of Gates forward of the convention championship recreation on the coaching desk, the place he remembers docs numbing Gates’ foot, sticks with him and is without doubt one of the many causes Gates meant a lot to the group.

“From the ankle down, he could not really feel something,” Merriman stated. “And also you assume, man, [that] anyone of his caliber that is already accomplished a lot in his profession would simply go and take that danger, my respect stage for him at that time simply went by way of the roof.”

Whereas the Chargers are primarily related to not dwelling as much as expectations and have by no means received a Tremendous Bowl, they’ve had a number of the league’s greatest gamers, together with quarterback Philip Rivers, operating again LaDainian Tomlinson, linebacker Junior Seau, huge receiver Lance Alworth, QB Dan Fouts and tight finish Kellen Winslow.

Nonetheless, lots of these stars went on to complete their careers elsewhere. Gates, Fouts and Winslow are the three in that group to play for the Chargers their complete careers, with Winslow enjoying 9 seasons and Fouts 15. Gates’ 16 years as a Charger throughout maybe probably the most transformative years of the franchise’s historical past, when the group alienated lots of its followers with the transfer to L.A., will all the time make Gates’ relationship with San Diego completely different.

“I feel it’s simply actually particular to have anyone who began his profession in San Diego and stayed with the workforce the whole time,” Droegemeier stated. “However with Antonio, he was a man who all the time did issues the precise method, and he was additionally simply such a playmaker. It is clearly very easy to resonate with these varieties of gamers.”