Pop Gates


William Penn "Pop" Gates was an American professional basketball player.

Early life

He was born in Decatur, Alabama and attended high school in New York, New York. After attending Clark Atlanta University, he began his basketball career in New York City.

Basketball career

Gates started his professional basketball career with the New 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 the Tri-Cities Blackhawks in October 1946.
Gates, along with William "Dolly" King, were the first two African-American players in the National Basketball League 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."
Later Gates played for and coached the Harlem Globetrotters. He is one of the few athletes who went directly from a high school championship team to a world professional champion.

Awards and honors

Gates was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 1989.