Sports
Antonio Gates
born 1980 · American football tight end
Detroit Central High School star who never played college football yet became one of the NFL's greatest tight ends and a 2025 Hall of Famer.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan
age 46- Birth name
- Antonio Ethan Gates Jr.
- Detroit years
- 1980–1998
- Field
- Sports
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Gates grew up in Detroit and was already wearing size-12 shoes in sixth grade. At Central High School, the city's oldest public high school, he starred in both football and basketball. Basketball won out: after brief stops elsewhere he played at Kent State, where he led the team to the NCAA tournament's Elite Eight in 2002. Scouts saw a power forward too short for the NBA, but San Diego Chargers officials saw a tight end, and in 2003 they signed him as an undrafted free agent even though he had not played a down of college football. He spent sixteen seasons with the Chargers, made eight Pro Bowls and caught 116 touchdown passes, the most ever by a tight end. In 2025 he became the first player inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame without having played college football.
Highlights
- Two-sport star at Detroit's Central High School
- Led Kent State basketball to the 2002 NCAA Elite Eight
- 116 touchdown catches, the NFL record for a tight end
- Eight Pro Bowls with the Chargers
- First Hall of Famer who never played college football (2025)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1990s
Central High School
Detroit's oldest public high school (at this address since 1926), where he starred in football and basketball.