Kyle Rote, Jr.

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Soccer Card 1976

Kyle Rote, Jr. is a famous American soccer player. The son of Kyle Rote, an all-American college football player at Southern Methodist University who played in the National Football League for the New York Giants, he is among the first American soccer stars.

Rote, Jr. also briefly played college football at Oklahoma State before transferring to the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, where he played soccer and track and field. He originally played soccer to stay in shape during the offseason, but became hooked on the game and started playing it fulltime. He joined the North American Soccer League's Dallas Tornado in 1973 and led the league in scoring his rookie year. He also played for the Houston Hurricane in a pro career that ended in 1981.

Rote, Jr. won the made-for-television Superstars competition three times in a four-year period, making him arguably the best all-around athlete in American sports in the 1970s.