The Cal 100: No. 7 -- Tony Gonzalez

The greatest tight end in history was a two-sport star at Cal, but nearly went to another college

We count down the top 100 individuals associated with Cal athletics, based on their impact in sports or in the world at large – a wide-open category. See if you agree.

No. 7: Tony Gonzalez

Cal Sports Connection: Gonzalez played football at Cal for three seasons (1994-1996) and was an All-America selection at tight end in 1996. He also played basketball at Cal for three years, and was a key member of the Bears team that reached the NCAA tournament Sweet 16 in 1997.

Claim to Fame: Gonzalez is generally considered the best tight end in NFL history. He was a 14-time Pro Bowl selection and a six-time first-team All-Pro pick. He is one of two former Cal athletes in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He has been a TV pro football analyst and an actor.

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Tony Gonzalez is the best tight end in pro football history, and he has the statistics to back it up. But he came to Cal for basketball, and almost did not come to Cal at all.

Gonzalez verbally committed to play basketball for Lute Olson at Arizona, which had finished the two previous seasons ranked in the top 10 and beat out offers from Alabama, Oklahoma, Florida State, Syracuse and Michigan State for the Huntington Beach (Calif.) High School two-sport star.

But then-Cal basketball coach Todd Bozeman put on a fullcourt recruiting press, having Jason Kidd host him on a visit. Gonzalez had to tell Olson he had changed his mind and would attend Cal instead, with plans to play football and basketball for the Bears.

Basketball was still his first priority, and before entering Cal Gonzalez considered skipping football for one season along the way because it infringed on the basketball season. But he played football all three of his years at Cal, missing the first two months of the basketball season before joining the Bears hoopsters all three years as well.

During his final Cal football season in 1996 – a year in which he was a second-team Associated Press All-America selection and a first-team All-America pick by The Sporting News – Gonzalez left the basketball team for two games in mid-December to play in the Aloha Bowl. He caught nine passes in that bowl game to tie a Cal bowl record. Because of injuries to teammates, Gonzalez spent practice time at linebacker, and there were hints he might play some defense in the Aloha Bowl, although that never materialized.

Gonzalez returned to the Cal basketball team after the bowl game, and was elevated to the starting lineup late in the season when Pac-10 player of the year Ed Gray suffered a broken foot. In the Bears’ second-round NCAA tournament game, the 6-foot-5 Gonzalez was matched up against 6-foot-10 Villanova star Tim Thomas, and Gonzalez outscored Thomas, 23-11, holding Thomas scoreless in the second half of the Bears’ upset of the fourth-seeded Wildcats. Despite being outplayed by Gonzalez, Thomas was the seventh overall pick in the 1997 NBA draft.

Gonzalez entered the NFL draft after his junior season, was taken by the Kansas City Chiefs with the 13th overall pick in 1997 NFL draft. He became an immediate star.

Gonzalez was named to the Pro Bowl 14 times and was a first-team All-Pro selection six times in his 17-year NFL career with the Chiefs and Falcons.

He still holds the record for most career receptions (1,325) by a tight end, and ranks third overall in receptions, behind only Jerry Rice and Larry Fitzgerald. Gonzalez also holds the NFL record for receiving yards (15,127) and touchdown catches (111) by a tight end and is sixth overall in receiving yards and eighth in TD receptions.

Gonzalez was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2019, becoming the first tight end to be a first-ballot inductee and the second former Cal player to reach the Hall (Les Richter is the other).

And he claimed he could have had a career as a pro basketball player.

"I could have played in the NBA," Gonzalez told ESPN in 2013 via the Canton Repository. "I would have put up 1,000 jump shots a day. I've got that type of work ethic."

Pat Riley, a player, head coach and general manager in the NBA, agrees.

"If he ever would have pursued it, I think he would have been a 10-year pro," Riley told ESPN.

As if to prove his point, Gonzalez played professional basketball with the Miami Heat’s Summer League team in 2002.

“This isn’t a lark, it’s not a publicity stunt,” said Riley, the Heat’s general manager at the time, according to ChiefsWire.

Gonzalez played in two summer games for the Heat and collected three points and 11 rebounds.

Gonzalez continues to have an impact. He worked as an analyst on NFL pregame shows with CBS and Fox, and is scheduled to be a pregame and postgame analyst for Thursday night NFL games on Amazon this coming season.

He has been an actor, appearing on a number of TV programs, including three episodes of NCIS portraying special agent Tony Francis.

Gonzalez’s business ventures include co-founding commercial cleaning service Extreme Clean 88 and nutrition company All-Pro Science, and he co-authored a book titled The All-Pro Diet.

He discovered a lot about his ethnic heritage when he was a guest on the PBS series Finding Your Roots.

No further research was needed to determine Gonzalez is still considered the best tight end in history. (Notice how often he is double-teamed in this video.)

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Cover photo of Tony Gonzalez by Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports

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