Pop Gates
New York Celtics | |
| As coach: | |
|---|---|
| 1949 | Dayton Rens |
| 1950–1955 | Harlem Globetrotters |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| Basketball Hall of Fame as player | |
William Penn "Pop" Gates (August 30, 1917 – December 1, 1999) was an American professional basketball player.
Early life
He was born in
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 (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."[3]
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 (Benjamin Franklin, New York, 1938) to a world professional champion (New York Rens, 1939).
Awards and honors
Gates was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 1989.
References
- ISBN 0-313-29911-0.
- ^ "William 'Pop' Gates". The Black Fives Foundation. September 29, 2016. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
- ^ "Long-forgotten Leo Ferris helped devise NBA's 24-second clock, first used 61 years ago today". ESPN.com. October 30, 2015. Retrieved March 14, 2016.
External links
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
