American football running back and wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 years for the New York Giants (1951–1961). In all, Rote played in four world championship games, including the 1956 NFL Championship against the Chicago Bears, and the 1958 game won by the Baltimore Colts in sudden-death overtime 23–17, known as The Greatest Game, the first ever nationally televised NFL championship game. Rote was the captain of the New York Giants for eight years.
Rote spearheaded the movement that became the NFL Players Association, fighting for equal opportunities for all players, so that all players of all races would receive equal treatment when the teams played on the road. Rote became the NFLPA’s first elected president serving for several years, and also acted as the Giants team representative.
Following his playing career, Rote served as the Giants backfield coach and was sports broadcaster for WNEW radio, NBC, and WNBC New York on radio and television.
Rote and his first wife, Elizabeth Jeanett Jamison, married in 1949 and had four children. His oldest son, Kyle Rote, Jr., was one of the first notable soccer stars from the United States. In 1965, Rote married Sharon Ritchie (Miss America 1956); they were divorced in 1973. Rote married Betty-Nina Langmack in 1976.
Rote was the cousin of Tobin Rote, a multi-championship winning and record holding AFL and NFL quarterback.
Rote authored the books, Pro Football for the Fans and The Language of Pro Football, and wrote the Giants Fight Song. He also published two volumes of poetry, was an ASCAP songwriter, accomplished pianist, and oil painter having a number of his works shown at museums throughout the United States.
Rote died on the night of 15 August 2002, aged 73, in Baltimore, Maryland, from pneumonia following hernia surgery.
Link to Wikipedia biography