660 Heroes: Committed to the Cause

When a bevy of Cowboys decided to cross the picket line during the 1987 player strike, few would have blamed Bates for joining them. 

After going undrafted in 1983 despite a strong collegiate career at the University of Tennessee, Bates signed on as a rookie free agent with the Cowboys. His knack for hard hits and sure tackling made him the first player to earn a Pro Bowl nod as a special teams player in 1984, but he was still limited by the first refusal free-agency system that kept him from negotiating his true market value as a player.

Still, Bates, who served as the team’s Player Rep during the four-week strike in 1987, kept most of his teammates on the right side of the picket line. When the strike ended without a new CBA, he signed on with other players reps as a named plaintiff in the Powell antitrust suit filed by the NFLPA to challenge the owners' continued restrictions on free agents. 

He was elected to the NFLPA Executive Committee in the late 1980s and was one of the union's strongest voices leading up to the landmark free-agency settlement with the owners in 1993. Since retiring in 1998, he has remained an active member of the NFLPA Former Players Group.