1one of a kind

DOROTHY GATERS

When she accepted her job as coach of Marshall High School's Lady Commando program in 1974, it was a pretty modest proposition.

"Nobody wanted the job, so I took it," recalls Dorothy Gaters, who with a record of 768-83 (.902 winning percentage) has the most victories of any girls' or boys' high school sports coach in the state of Illinois.

During her years at Marshall, the teams she's coached have won 21 Chicago Public League championships and seven state championships. She has also produced more college-bound athletes than she can count.

"All the years of coaching, the only kids we haven't sent to college are those who wanted to do something else - go into the service or get married," says Gaters, who can point to six Marshall graduates currently playing Division I basketball, including Rutgers point guard Cappie Pondexter. "That number has been very, very miniscule. Without me counting it up, that's a lot of kids.

"We basically send all of our kids to college," she added. "We had 17 kids that were in colleges and universities throughout the United States this past season."

It's a different time than in the early 1980s when she was readying her first D I player, Janet Harris.

"We had to sell M&Ms to raise money for Janet to go and visit her two choices in schools," Gaters says. "Janet went on to be a three-time All American at the University of Georgia and then a very successful professional player."

In 1985, three Marshall graduates found themselves in the Final Four, with Harris and Marie Christian of Old Dominion facing off for the National Championship.

"That was a Kodak moment for me," says Gaters. "I couldn't go to the games because we competed in the state tournament that weekend and we also won. I rushed home and I was able to see the game on TV."

Gaters counts herself fortunate to be located in an area rich with basketball talent. She refuses to take credit for the players she considered the team lucky to have. Others in the basketball world aren't quite so modest in their assessment. Seven times she's received the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year award, and 22 times she's been named District I Coach of the Year. She has been inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame, the Chicago Public League Coaches Association Hall of Fame, the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association and the Illinois Girls Association Hall of Fame. In 2003 her coaching career was featured in an exhibit at the Chicago Historical Society.

Her vision for a team is simple.

"We want dedication from our athletes," she explains. "We want them to work hard. In the off-season try to work to improve yourself, because self-improvement is greatly appreciated by the coaches. It shows a lot of self-worth in the athlete if they want to work to become better."

She says she does not think the WNBA has driven more girls into the Lady Commando program, but she does say television and other media exposure have been a plus. Gaters says she thinks the players of the past were perhaps more driven and devoted to the game than today's players.

In addition to her position as the girls' basketball coach, Gaters is the dean of students at Marshall.

Although she's entertained the possibility of coaching at the college level, she has never made the move.

"I have a lot of commitments in the city of Chicago," says Gaters, who has lived there since age 7. "My mom is 94. I have two beautiful grandkids. I like to be around them as they grow up. There will never be a replacement for seeing your grandkids."

Her 14-year-old grandson is 6'5" and he definitely plays basketball. While she tries to make all his games, she says she refrains from offering advice.

This past summer Gaters coached the North Team at USA Basketball's Women's Youth Development Festival.

"I enjoy watching good players, regardless of what program they're in," she says. "I can appreciate a good play. There were a lot of good players there, and I enjoyed watching them very much."

And she enjoys watching people carry life lessons away from competitive basketball.

"One is discipline," she notes. "Being responsible for yourself. And being responsible for others."

Copyright Ashton International Media, Inc. Oct 2003
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