(Photo: Eugene Tanner/Icon Sportswire)
Golden Tate, the player with a great first name, was an electrifying performer at wide receiver. Only 5-11, blazing speed and precise patterns were his trademark and he he had an uncanny knack for winning contested catches.
Tate hailed from Hendersonville, Tennessee, and at John Paul the II High School there, he did it all. Besides excelling on the football field on offense and defense, he was a star center fielder on the baseball team and a state champion sprinter.
Tate was drafted out of high school in 2007 by the Arizona Diamondbacks, but he choose to go to Notre Dame with plans to play baseball and football. As a freshman, he quickly made a splash on the football field as a kick returner and part time wide receiver.
Tate also stepped right in and contributed to the baseball team playing in 18 games as a Freshman and then 55 as a sophomore in 2009 when he batted .329. By that time though his football career had really blossomed after a huge sophomore season on the field for the Irish, and he made the decision to concentrate on football, after two seasons of two sports. That seems to have been a wise move.
With Jimmy Clausen as his quarterback and Charlie Weis dialing up a pass happy offense, he emerged that sophomore year to post 1080 yards receiving with 10 TDs. In ND’s Hawaii Bowl victory that season, he put on one of the great performances in Notre Dame history with a six catch 177 yard performance and three touchdowns.
After that effort he was no longer a secret to defenses, but in his junior year he got even better. That season he set school records with 93 catches, 1496 yards and 15 touchdowns. He posted several monster performances including a 244-yard day against Washington and a 201-yard day against Stanford.
That record setting 2009 season earned him unanimous All-American recognition and he won the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s most outstanding receiver. HIs superlative skills, firmly established, Tate choose to forgo his senior season. He left Notre Dame with a handful of school receiving records to his name and a highlight film full of amazing catches.
The Seattle Seahawks drafted him in the second round (60th overall) of the 2010 draft. Golden Tate went on to a productive 11 season NFL career earning All-Pro recognition (2014) and winning a Super Bowl in 2013. In his career he amassed 46 touchdown catches and had 8,278 yards receiving.