Kyle Rote, Jr.

William Kyle Rote Jr. (born December 25, 1950) is an American former professional soccer forward who played seven seasons in the North American Soccer League (NASL) and earned five caps with the United States men's national soccer team between 1973 and 1975. He led the NASL in scoring in 1973. He later coached the Memphis Americans of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

Family background Rote Jr. is the son of Kyle Rote, an all-American college football player at Southern Methodist University who also played in the National Football League as wide receiver for the New York Giants. In fact, Rote Jr. remembers his father's positive reaction when he (Rote Jr.) changed sports in college, remembering his father as saying, “If that’s what you want to do, I’m going to support you in that. Don’t feel like you need to follow in my footsteps. You make your own footsteps.”

He attended Oklahoma State University initially intending to concentrate on American football. But after receiving a broken leg in football practice, he decided to switch sports to soccer. He transferred to the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, then one of the few universities in the southern U.S. with a varsity soccer program, in large part because his best friends from high school were already there. And Rote Jr. felt the two of them could help the program. In October 1978, the Houston Hurricane purchased Rote's contract from the Tornado for $250,000. He played the 1979 season with Houston, then announced his retirement in February 1980.

Rote Jr. earned a total of $185,000 from his three Superstars victories. This compared to $8,000 a year as a U.S. soccer player. He also received “several times my soccer salary” in commercial endorsements. Out of respect for his teammates, he did not upgrade to expensive clothes or an expensive car, although he said, “When you’re young, you’re married, you’re just trying to get started, so it helped us financially, no question about that.” Some U.S. players only received around $2,000 a year, which was below the U.S. poverty line at the time. When the team moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, during the 1984 off-season, Rote chose to remain in Memphis. In July 1984, the Dallas Sidekicks offered him the position of head coach, but Rote declined. which became the Kikari during 1978. Like the paddle game, the Kikari was a specialized soccer ball attached to weighted base (or stake) via an elastic string. Kyle worked with Jim Brown at Jokari for tournaments and also endorsed the Jokari distributed Subbuteo for the U.S. market. Kyle authored the book Improve Your Soccer With Kikari. Kyle also endorsed a sports drink, Nutrament.

After his retirement, Rote became a sports agent. He currently lives in Memphis, Tennessee, and is the founder and chief executive officer of Athletic Resource Management, Inc.,