Greg Gates rowed for Yale, graduating from the New Haven school in 1950. While he was there, Eli eight-oared fortunes were down a bit, necessitating Gates to go to a smaller boat to make the Olympic team. In 1948, Gates rowed on the Yale crew that finished second to Harvard at the Eastern Sprints and in their match race. However, in 1949, Yale, and Gates, gained a measure of revenge by defeating Harvard in their match race.
Prior to Yale, Gates served in World War II, being drafted in July 1944 and serving two years in the Mediterranean Theatre in Italy. After college he worked for his father at Drycor Felt Company, a textile mill in Connecticut, but then attended Harvard Business School, graduating with an MBA in 1954. Gates later specialized in industry procurement, working at United Aircraft (later United Technologies) and then Pratt and Whitney. He retired in 1976 to Florida and Maine, where he ran a Christmas tree farm in the winters. later settling in Florida and then Texas.