D'Wayne Bates: One Former Chicago Bear You May Not Know, But You Should

D’wayne Bates likely will never find himself honored in the hallowed halls of the NFL Hall of Fame.

Heck, most football fans probably don’t even know who D’Wayne Bates is. But when it comes to professional athletes who can be true role models to younger generations, there are few who come close to the one-time Chicago Bears wide receiver.

Bates, who is perhaps best known as the star wide receiver on the 1995 Rose Bowl bound Northwestern University football team, was drafted in the third round of the 1999 draft by the Bears. He had pedestrian-like statistics with Chicago—15 receptions for 221 yards and one touchdown in three seasons—while also being used on special teams.

He went on to play two seasons in Minnesota, where alongside Randy Moss he snagged 65 catches for more than 800 yards and five touchdowns. But it is not “Bates the football player” that makes him so memorable: it is “Bates the person.”

With a smile brighter than the lights on Sundays at Soldier Field, Bates’ personality is simply infectious. He knows who he is, and more importantly, who he isn’t, and it’s that recognition that makes him so admirable.

He is not the stereotypical NFL star with an ego bigger than his Cadillac Escalade. He probably doesn’t even have an Escalade, a rarity for a professional athlete these days.

What Bates does have, though, is a work ethic. He learned the importance of hard work, dedication, and commitment growing up in South Carolina, and it showed during his redshirt year at Northwestern.

“My first memory of D'Wayne is when we couldn't cover him on the scout offense,” current NU coach and former Bates teammate Pat Fitzgerald told me during an interview in 2006. “He was a great player during his redshirt year, and you could tell that the sky was the limit for him and that he was just an incredibly diligent worker.”

That diligence was shown over and over again during his prolific Wildcats career. Bates, who was recruited as a mobile quarterback, became one of the best wide receivers in Wildcat history, setting school records for touchdown receptions (26), total receptions (210), and receiving yards (3,370).

But his dedication was shown off the field as well. Bates thought he was going to pursue a career in business when he arrived at NU, but quickly discovered that was not the right path for him.

He wanted something different.

Bates decided to turn his attention to education, opting to focus on a future that would revolve around helping children. The summer after Bates helped lead the Purple to Pasadena, he taught as a camp counselor at an elementary school close to the NU campus. From then on, he knew his calling was not business, not even football; his destiny was to give back to the community, and that is exactly what he is doing today.

Bates currently teaches history and coaches football and basketball at Evanston Township High School. Bates, whose ESPN.com bio lists him as 6-foot-2 and 215 lbs., stands head and shoulders above the teenagers who populate the ETHS halls, but the students flock to him nonetheless.

After all, this is a former professional athlete walking alongside them.

This is a man who played football with and against future Hall of Famers.

This is a role model who could care all about himself, but instead chooses to care all about those around him.

“Just by who D’Wayne is, he makes everybody around him that much more special,” Fitzgerald said in 2006. “If you’re a young man searching for someone to follow, you’d be a fool not to follow his lead.”


**Fitzgerald quotes in this story also appeared in: http://media.www.dailynorthwestern.com/media/storage/paper853/news/2006/10/26/Sports/Life-Lessons-2403854.shtml