Billy Ray Bates took the Philippine Basketball Association by storm in 1983 when he joined the
legendary Crispa Redmanizers in the Reinforced Conference. Already a formidable team with
a star-studded local line-up, Crispa signed Bates to be the import for its quest of a 2nd grand slam.
In his first game, Bates immediately grabbed the limelight and enthralled the crowd with
a spectacular display of inside and outside moves. He had an accurate jumper even from 3 point range,
a muscular upper body to physically match up and intimidate taller opponents, and a mean
game from the paint punctuated by his favorite arsenal, the slam dunk.
What Julius Erving did to revolutionize the slam dunk in the NBA/ABA during the 70s, Bates did the same for the PBA in the early 80s. His natural ability to hang in the air longer than any defender and at the last instance powerfully slam the ball into the rim brought the shot, previously showcased in the PBA by the likes of 6'10" behemoths Larry McNeill and Dean Tolson, to the next level. Thus paving the way for future slammers such as the local high flying acts of Paul Alvarez, Vergel Meneses and others. His skills plus a charismatic, outgoing personality endeared him to the basketball watching public and the media. He was dubbed as the Black Superman. Grosby, a local shoe manufacturer, gave him an endorsement coming out with a line of shoe with the monicker emblazoned on it.
Some imports will be remembered for their longevity of tenure in the league such as
Norman Black, Bobby Parks,
Sean Chambers, Snake Jones. Some for their skill in scoring points
such as Michael Hackett, David Thirdkill, Tony Harris. And a few known for their flamboyant
showmanship such as Kevin Porter, Rob Williams,
Glenn Hagan. But never has an import made such a
huge impact in the Philippine basketball scene as much as Billy Ray Bates. He possessed all of the aforementioned characteristics and most importantly, he was a winner. He won two championships for Crispa and a few years later the first title for the popular Ginebra franchise. He became the measuring stick of any new foreign player who comes in to play in the PBA and is widely regarded by many as the greatest
import ever to have played in the PBA.
Background
Billy Ray was born in Goodman, Mississippi to Frank and Ellen Bates on May 31, 1956. He was the eighth of nine children.
He played high school ball at McAdams High in Mississippi and college ball at Kentucky State University. Houston picked
him in the 3rd round of the 1978 NBA draft. But before the season started, he was cut by the Rockets and
he ended up playing for the Maine Lumberjacks in the
Continental Basketball Association. He won the league's Rookie of the Year and the slam dunk competition in its All-Star games. In February 1980,
he eventually made it to the big league, signing a 4 year contract during midseason with the Portland Trailblazers.
Towards the end of the regular season, the NBA gave him Player of the Week honors.
PBA experience
Bates won the 1983 Reinforced Conference Best Import award and helped the Crispa Redmanizers win the title.
He also won that year's Open Conference Best Import award and teamed up with
ex- New York Knickerbocker Larry Demic to win the title for Crispa resulting in a grand slam sweep for the Redmanizers.
Three years later, Bates and Michael Hackett joined forces to give Ginebra San Miguel its first PBA title, the 1986 Open conference.
He returned to Ginebra in the 1987 Reinforced Conference leading all imports with a 54.9 points per
game average.
His last stint with Ginebra/Anejo was in the 1988 Reinforced. But being out of shape, he played in only 4 games and
was eventually replaced by Kevin Gamble.
All in all, he played a total of 98 games in the PBA spanning 5 conferences in 4 seasons for 2 teams with an
all time league high of 46.2 points per game average among imports.
NBA statistics
GP Min FGM FGA Pct 3ptM 3ptA Pct FTM FTA Pct
79-80 Portland 16 235 72 146 .493 8 19 .421 28 39 .718
80-81 Portland 77 1560 439 902 .487 14 54 .259 170 199 .854
81-82 Portland 75 1229 327 692 .473 12 41 .293 166 211 .787
82-83 Lakers/Wash 19 55 55 145 .379 2 5 .400 11 22 .500
Regular Season 187 .474 .796
Playoffs 6 .545 .806
OR DR Tot Ast PF Stl TO Blk Pts RPG APG PPG
79-80 Portland 13 16 29 31 26 2 20 2 180 1.8 1.9 11.3
80-81 Portland 71 86 157 196 120 6 149 6 1062 2.0 2.5 13.8
81-82 Portland 53 55 108 111 100 5 93 5 832 1.4 1.5 11.1
82-83 Lakers/Wash 11 8 19 14 19 3 12 3 123 1.0 0.7 6.5
Regular Season 2197 1.7 1.9 11.7
Playoffs 160 2.8 4.2 26.7
PBA statistics
GP Min FGM FGA Pct 3ptM 3ptA Pct FTM FTA Pct
83 Crispa 49 2262 703 1089 .645 104 251 .414 325 384 .846
86 Ginebra 22 1043 316 519 .609 94 244 .385 178 216 .824
87 Ginebra 23 1070 394 608 .648 92 238 .396 199 231 .861
88 Anejo 4 180 41 84 .488 7 26 .269 22 26 .846
Totals 98 4555 1454 2300 .632 297 759 .391 724 929 .845
OR DR Tot Ast Stl Blk Pts PPG Hi
83 Crispa 117 418 535 301 78 54 2043 41.7 64
86 Ginebra 62 234 296 121 30 19 1092 49.6 69
87 Ginebra 93 251 344 120 15 20 1263 54.9 71
88 Anejo 17 26 43 16 2 1 125 31.2 40
Totals 289 929 1218 558 125 94 4523 46.2
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