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Kris Rhim
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 a substitute, on this Sunday, they had been 5-7, and their playoff possibilities had been nearly gone. SoFi Stadium, their house 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 cause to smile. At halftime, the crew held a ceremony to induct tight finish Antonio Gates into the Chargers Corridor of Fame.
“To town of San Diego,” Gates mentioned, 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 house.”
Gates performed 16 seasons within the NFL, 14 in San Diego and two in Los Angeles after the crew relocated. That transfer continues to be a sore spot for some followers who had been mum when Gates thanked Los Angeles and booed loudly when Gates thanked crew proprietor Dean Spanos and the Spanos household.
Whereas Gates by no means gained a championship, he was partly chargeable 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 had 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 can be cheering the loudest.
“He was a man who simply match town,” mentioned David Droegemeier, a San Diego native and co-host of the “Locked on Chargers” podcast. “A man who appears like he is obtained 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 Faculty, 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 top-of-the-line 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 varsity has ever made within the NCAA match. 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 had 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 crew.
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 last cuts, Cooper remembers the crew having two spots left, however he and Gates had satisfied themselves that simply certainly one of them would make the crew.
After they realized they each did, that they had a muted celebration of their resort 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 making an attempt 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,” mentioned 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 mentioned Gates stands out as the primary tight finish to be the point of interest of a crew’s offense: “First man I can bear in mind catching 10, 12, 13, 14 balls in a recreation … biggest of all time.”
Gates’ achievements made groups at each degree take possibilities on former basketball gamers. Essentially the most notable is tight finish Jimmy Graham, who performed one yr of soccer after 4 years on the College of Miami’s basketball crew. 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 informed reporters in 2012. “He paved the way in which for me.”
Whereas Gates’ measurement wasn’t a match for NBA energy ahead, he made a great NFL tight finish. He was too fast to be coated by most linebackers and too sturdy to be coated by defensive backs, placing D-coordinators in a bind every week.
“You knew if a crew desires to go one-on-one with him, he’ll kill them,” former Chargers security Eric Weddle mentioned. “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 crew’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 mentioned 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 numerous accidents his former teammates bear in mind Gates taking part in by means of.
Forward of the 2007 AFC Championship Sport, Gates’ standing was unsure. He had dislocated his massive toe within the Chargers’ win within the wild-card spherical over the Tennessee Titans; the harm was extreme sufficient that he left the sport on a medical cart. Nonetheless, Gates performed by means of it within the Chargers’ divisional-round win over the Indianapolis Colts and their AFC Championship Sport loss to the New England Patriots.
Former Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman mentioned 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 among the many causes Gates meant a lot to the group.
“From the ankle down, he could not really feel something,” Merriman mentioned. “And also you suppose, man, [that] any person of his caliber that is already completed a lot in his profession would simply go and take that danger, my respect degree for him at that time simply went by means of the roof.”
Whereas the Chargers are primarily related to not dwelling as much as expectations and have by no means gained a Tremendous Bowl, they’ve had a number of the league’s greatest gamers, together with quarterback Philip Rivers, working again LaDainian Tomlinson, linebacker Junior Seau, vast receiver Lance Alworth, QB Dan Fouts and tight finish Kellen Winslow.
Nonetheless, a lot 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 total careers, with Winslow taking part in 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 a lot of its followers with the transfer to L.A., will all the time make Gates’ relationship with San Diego totally different.
“I believe it’s simply actually particular to have any person who began his profession in San Diego and stayed with the crew all the time,” Droegemeier mentioned. “However with Antonio, he was a man who all the time did issues the best manner, and he was additionally simply such a playmaker. It is clearly very easy to resonate with these forms of gamers.”
