Hall of Fame
For more than 40 years, Bill Gates played a vital role in the history of softball – fast pitch as well as slow pitch – in Joplin and throughout the state.
Bill Gates (Red to his friends) is to amateur softball in the Joplin area as to Sunny Jim Walters was to Little League Baseball.
As player, coach, and administrator, Red volunteered his services to promote the game he loved so much. As coach of the Ozark Athletics women’s slow pitch team, he developed some outstanding individuals and formed them into a cohesive unit that was good enough to challenge at the national level.
The Ozark Athletics qualified for five regional tournaments and three national meets during a span of 12 years, and during a time when there was just ONE national tournament. The team’s best finish was a tie for fifth nationally.
Red was never one to take credit for the team’s success, instead applauding the effort of his players, many of whom started when they were 14 or 15 years of age.
Some of his former players went into coaching; others entered other fields of employment, but all have had successful careers.
In addition to coaching the Athletics, Red Gates was deputy district commissioner of the Amateur Softball Association under the late Gene Bassman for 16 years. When Gene had to retire for reasons of ill health, Red served as district commissioner for 10 years.
Red later joined Rick Prigg at Four Seasons Sports Complex and helped schedule leagues and umpires for some nine years. He continued to process time sheets and payroll at Four Seasons even after retiring due to ill health.
Red Gates was inducted into the Missouri Amateur Softball Association Hall of Fame in 1993 for his service as a coach, manager, player, umpire, and administrator. They could have added groundskeeper, too, because that was part of the job Red took on as the deputy commissioner and the district commissioner.
Bill (Red) Gates passed away on Monday, February 28, 2005, at the age of 68.
