William Penn "Pop" Gates (August 30, 1917 – December 1, 1999) was an American professional basketball player.

"Seven months before Jackie Robinson made his debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Leo Ferris helped usher in a new era of racial integration for professional basketball when he signed Pop Gates, who made his debut for the Tri-Cities Blackhawks in October 1946.

Gates, along with William "Dolly" King, were the first two African-American players in the National Basketball League (NBL) in 1946.

"When Leo Ferris came to me, it was like a godsend", Gates was quoted as saying in the book "Pioneers of the Hardwood: Indiana and the Birth of Professional Basketball."

Gates was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 1989.