Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, Gattison grew up playing basketball at the park with Michael Jordan.

Gattison competed in the 1983 National Sports Festival in Colorado Springs for the East Squad.

He helped lead ODU to two straight NCAA tournament bids and in his senior year of 1986, the eighth seeded Monarchs defeated West Virginia for ODU's first ever NCAA Division I Tournament win.

Gattison graduated from Old Dominion with a degree in distributive education, specializing in personnel management.

[4] Gattison's 0.529 career field goal percentage with the Charlotte Hornets is the best in the franchise history.

After retiring, Gattison served as an assistant coach on John Calipari's staff with the New Jersey Nets from 1996 to 1998.

[5] On May 29, 2015, Gattison's two-year tenure on the Suns staff ended as he was informed that his contract, set to expire June 30, would not be renewed.