Antonio Gates was one of the premier athletes during his high school days at Detroit Central in the late 1990s, finishing runnerup to Dane Fife of Clarkston for Mr. Basketball while leading his team to the Class A state championship in 1998. Gates also was a star on the football field.
Though Gates is well known for his NFL career as a tight end, he never played a down of college football. Basketball was his game in college, and he led Kent State to a MAC championship and to the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight in 2002.