Without men like Pop Gates paving the way for today's players, the professional game would pale in comparison. He is a historical treasure of enormous stature. By Susan Rayl J ust to look at the photo of a 20-year old Pop Gates decked out in his Rens uniform stirs the imagination. All-Star sneakers and a basketball in his hands. When I played with Pop on the New York Rens and the Scranton Miners, we looked to him for leadership, which he gave us.
Pop is one of the all-time greats.
Others, including Tarzan Cooper, who was enshrined in 1976, mirror Younger's accolades. Averaging 14 points a game in more than 1,500 games, Gates established himself as a superb professional player during the next 17 years with the New York Rens, Grumman Flyers, Washington Bears, Scranton Miners and Harlem Globetrotters. Gates played in all 10 of the World Professional Basketball Tournaments held in Chicago between 1939 and 1948 and made several All-Tournament teams. Like many black families in the South, Dan and Lulu Gates moved north from Alabama with their three young sons in 1920, first to Cleveland and then to Harlem. Gates honed his basketball skills at the Harlem YMCA, and after four years under high school coach Bill Spiegel, he led Benjamin Franklin High School to the PSAL Championship in 1938, earning All-Scholastic honors and PSAL Player of the Year in the process.