Antonio Gates: A Chargers Icon Honored in the Hall of Fame
In a 2023 season matchup against the Denver Broncos, Chargers fans in Los Angeles didn’t have much to celebrate. After a season marked by a painful playoff defeat, the team arrived at the game hoping to redeem themselves and reach the championship. However, the day was not favorable: the scoreboard reflected a 5-7 and the playoff possibilities were fading. SoFi Stadium, their home, was tinged with orange, dominated by Denver supporters. To make matters worse, quarterback Justin Herbert suffered a fractured index finger that ended his season. But, amidst the disappointment, the organization gave fans a reason to smile: the tribute to Antonio Gates, a tight end who would be inducted into the Chargers Hall of Fame during halftime.Gates, who played 16 seasons in the NFL, 14 in San Diego and two in Los Angeles, after the team’s relocation, was fundamental to an exciting era of Chargers football, which included some of the most successful seasons in the franchise’s history. The cheers that resonated that day for Gates recalled how much he meant to a city that had adopted him as one of their own. As Gates is inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, many in San Diego will celebrate enthusiastically.“To the city of San Diego,” Gates said, pausing as the Chargers’ fans roared as loudly as they had done throughout the afternoon. “You supported me. You embraced a 22-year-old kid from Detroit, and you will always be my second home.”
Antonio Gates
“He was a guy who just fit in the city,” said David Droegemeier, a San Diego native and co-host of the “Locked on Chargers” podcast. “A guy who feels like he had to be from here, even if he wasn’t. He was one of us.”
David Droegemeier
Despite Gates’ dominance at Kent State, he was not expected to be an NBA player, mainly due to his height; he was a 6-foot-4-inch power forward, a position where NBA players are, on average, about 5 inches taller. Thus, Gates returned to football, training for NFL teams, who were intrigued by his physical attributes. The Chargers decided to sign him as an undrafted free agent in 2003, although he had little chance of making the team.
Stephen Cooper, a linebacker and undrafted free agent like Gates, was Gates’ roommate at the Holiday Inn during that 2003 training camp. As the Chargers made their final cuts, Cooper remembers that the team had two spots available, but he and Gates had convinced themselves that only one of them would make the team. When they found out that they had both been selected, they celebrated discreetly in their hotel room; it’s a moment that Cooper will never forget, especially considering all that Gates would achieve as a tight end. “We ran around the room trying not to make too much noise and get excited just because we didn’t want to disrespect our other teammates who weren’t selected,” Cooper said, who played nine seasons for the Chargers. “Of all the moments with Antonio, that’s the one I remember the most.” Gates’ success transformed the tight end position. His basketball background was evident in the way he blocked defenders and elevated for the ball as if catching a rebound on the court. Current Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh highlights Gates as the first tight end to be the focal point of a team’s offense: “The first guy I remember catching 10, 12, 13, 14 balls in a game… the greatest of all time.” Gates’ achievements encouraged other teams to bet on former basketball players. The most notable is tight end Jimmy Graham, who played one year of football after four years on the University of Miami basketball team. Graham was drafted in the third round by the New Orleans Saints and became one of the best tight ends in the league. He played 13 seasons and was selected for five Pro Bowls. “Without Gates, I wouldn’t even have been given this opportunity or the chance to play in college,” Graham told reporters in 2012. “He paved the way for me.”
Before the 2007 AFC Championship, Gates’ status was uncertain. He had dislocated his big toe in the Chargers’ wild card round victory against the Tennessee Titans; the injury was so severe that he left the game on a medical cart. Even so, Gates played despite this in the Chargers’ divisional round victory over the Indianapolis Colts and in the AFC Championship loss against the New England Patriots.
Former Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman said that the image of Gates before the conference championship game on the training table, where he remembers the doctors numbing Gates’ foot, marked him and is one of the many reasons why Gates meant so much to the organization. “From below the ankle down, I couldn’t feel anything,” Merriman said. “And you think, man, someone of his caliber who has already achieved so much in his career, that he would take a risk, my level of respect for him at that moment went through the roof.” While the Chargers are primarily associated with underachieving and have never won a Super Bowl, they have had some of the league’s best players, including quarterback Philip Rivers, running back LaDainian Tomlinson, linebacker Junior Seau, wide receiver Lance Alworth, QB Dan Fouts, and tight end Kellen Winslow.However, many of those stars ended their careers elsewhere. Gates, Fouts, and Winslow are the three from that group who played for the Chargers throughout their entire careers, with Winslow playing nine seasons and Fouts 15. Gates’ 16 years as a Charger, during perhaps the most transformative years in franchise history, when the organization alienated many of its fans with the move to Los Angeles, will always make Gates’ relationship with San Diego different.
“I think it’s really special to have someone who started his career in San Diego and stayed with the team the whole time,” Droegemeier said. “But with Antonio, he was a guy who always did things the right way, and he was also a gamer. Obviously, it’s very easy to empathize with those kinds of players.”
