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Kyle Rote Jr entered ABC’s made-for-TV sports contest as America’s best-known soccer player in a publicity-starved sport. He left it in 1977 as a household name

Kyle Rote Jr would be the first to tell you that he was not a soccer superstar, but there was no denying that he was a Superstar.

Four decades ago, Rote Jr proved to be the star of American star athletes when he captured the Superstars TV competition three out of four years. He entered the competition as the best-known US soccer player in a sport that was desperate for publicity and left it in 1977 as a household name.

“It couldn’t have happened to a nicer person,” said former Dallas Tornado goalkeeper Kenny Cooper, his one-time teammate and roommate.

Or to a more desperate sport and league looking for some exposure.

“All of a sudden he had a name ... as a Superstar,” Cooper said in a recent interview. “It helped catapult the game to different level. It helped the league, [North American Soccer League]. It helped everybody.”

It also helped Rote Jr’s bank account. He earned $185,000 for his Superstars hat-trick triumph, a pretty tidy sum in those days, especially for a poorly paid soccer player.

Rote Jr has never been confused a self-promoting, bombastic personality, but rather a man filled with humility, who understood his strengths and weaknesses. He knew his place on the Tornado.

“I could do a few things well,” he said. “I’m not a Maradona-type guy. Don’t give me the ball 30 yards out and ask me to beat four players and do something magical.”

His magic was to make the ball disappear behind opposing goalkeepers, becoming the first modern American soccer star, leading the NASL in scoring while earning Rookie of the Year honors in 1973.

In many respects, Rote Jr was destined to do big things in sports, although most observers probably felt it would be in the American gridiron version of football. After all, he was the son of legendary New York Giants wide receiver Kyle Rote and the cousin once removed former NFL quarterback Tobin Rote, who starred for the Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos.

If he hadn’t switched to soccer, there was a good chance that Rote Jr would never been on Superstars. He had played soccer as a teenager with his friends, helping establish a team called the Black Bandits in a Dallas youth soccer league to keep himself in shape for football. He was an all-Texas high school selection as a quarterback and defensive back.

But fate intervened. When he broke his leg in practice at Oklahoma State, Rote Jr made a life-changing decision and switch sports. Not surprisingly, he was concerned about what his father would say.

“I was as good athletically and all stuff,” he said. “He said, ‘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. Just because you carry my name you don’t have to do the same thing I did.’ He really freed me up.”

It was several years before Pele helped spark the start of the great soccer boom in the states, so finding a college that had a soccer program was difficult. Rote Jr chose the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, one of a handful of schools in the south with soccer team.

“I went there never having visited the school,” he said. “I went there because my best friend in high school went there and he was playing soccer there. I thought it would be a great way to play with my friend, we can help with the program.”

He acquitted himself well. When he returned home to Dallas, Rote Jr played in a number of scrimmages against the Tornado. The NASL decided to have hold its first college player draft in 1972 and the Tornado decided to use its first-round pick on Rote Jr. He did not join the team until mid-summer, after he completed college and married. So, he did not play that season.

As a first-year player, Rote Jr had no delusions of grandeur he would start, but fate once again intervened in 1973.

Two players who were expected to be scoring threats had immigration problems, leaving coach Ron Newman with few options.

“I don’t think Ron was necessarily was thinking I was going to play,” Rote Jr said. “It was about a week to go. It was obvious that they weren’t going to play. They hadn’t practiced with us at all. So Ron was forced to play me in that very first game.”

Rote Jr didn’t disappoint. He set up the first goal and tallied the second in a 2-1 win over the Toronto Metros before what turned out to be a season-high crowd of 19,342 at Texas Stadium. His scored spectacular diving header from about 10 yards. “It forced Ron to figure out a way to how to keep playing this kid because the fans will like it and bring in more ticket revenue,” he said with a laugh.

It turned out to be a brilliant decision to start Rote Jr. He finished with 10 goals and 10 assists, which gave him 30 points and the NASL scoring championship.

“My success that year was because they were not jealous,” he said of his teammates, many of which were English. “They were kind enough to let an American kid score goals. If the team had not accepted me at a certain level, and rejoiced that any success that I had in the team’s success . had they not seen it that way, it would not have been a good situation.”

Rote Jr’s success did not go unnoticed by ABC.

“I enjoyed the benefit of my father’s name. He was well known because he did the first Super Bowls. Having won the scoring championship and rookie of the year, got me the invitation. They needed to have some token soccer player,” he said with a laugh.

His rivals included football greats OJ Simpson, Roger Staubach and Lynn Swann, future baseball Hall of Famer Jim Palmer and Pete Rose, NBA superstar John Havlicek and tennis legend Stan Smith, among others, all in the prime of their careers.

“The novelty, part of what made the Superstars work, this was pre-cable basically only four stations in America – ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS,” he said. “There is a dead zone between the Super Bowl and the start of spring training.”

Taped in Rotonda West on the state’s west coast, Superstars was a ratings hit.

“Guys sitting at home Sunday afternoon watching this stuff and said, I’m going to go down to my local bowling alley and I can beat all those guys,” Rote Jr said. “I can bowl better than OJ Simpson, Lynn Swann, Roger Staubach. It had a connection to the consumer.”

Athletes selected seven of 10 events in which to compete; they were not allowed to compete in their sport. Rote Jr said his best events were swimming, the half mile, the home run derby and tennis.

Rote Jr took Superstars seriously, enlisting the help of coaches and experts from the Dallas area. He let this writer in on his “secret sauce,” using tennis as an example. He had never played the sport but managed to win the tournament. He was athletic and could cover ground and went to a local pro.

“I ultimately did exactly what he said,” the soccer player said. “His secret sauce was: ‘Always get your serves in, keep the ball in play, don’t try to hit winners and play it to your opponents’ backhand.’ So I won the tennis tournament seven out of the eight times ... not as a great tennis player – I never had to play against Stan Smith or someone was very good – they would wipe me up. Those things are not giving points away. that was the point of those things. Let them make mistakes.”

Rote Jr said that he made some “very good friendships” with some of the other athletes.

“We’re in the middle of nowhere on the western coast of Florida, living with each other for four or five days,” he said. “The families were all together. I got to know Stan Smith. I always enjoyed John Havlicek of the Boston Celtics, great athlete. John was one of those guys who could do a lot of sports. he was very good at a lot of sport. I think what you find out is that if you put the egos aside – which means you have to put Pete Rose aside [he laughs]. Pete and his wife at and she was a wild, entertaining, would say anything.

“I took it very seriously. I wanted to do things in the right way and to make sure that if I didn’t win, put out an effort that was an honorable effort that would never embarrass the game of soccer or my family’s name.”

Rote Jr said he earned $185,000 for winning three Superstars (1974, 1975 and 1977), plus “several times my soccer salary in endorsements.” He certainly needed that extra income because he earned $8,000 a year. At that time, some American players earned in the neighborhood of $2,000 a year, below the poverty line.

Given his humility, Rote Jr never flaunted his new-found wealth.

“We gave a good bit of it to charity,” he said. “We’ve always have tried to give back to the community, give back to God’s work. My wife and are on the same page with those kinds of things. I don’t think we changed our lifestyle much. When you’re young, you’re married, you’re just trying to get started, so it helped us financially, no question about that. I tried to keep my lifestyle the way it was out of respect for my teammates because they didn’t have that bonus income. I always drove the same car, wore the same clothes. You stayed the same guy that you are. you need not flaunt the blessing of some revenue stream that came into your life.”

He became a household word. When the Tornado hit the road, he and several teammates flew in a day early to publicize the game to bring in spectators.

“I missed several last-minute practices with our team before we would get on a plane and go,” he said. “In terms of performance, I probably would have been a little bit better off if I stayed with my team and done that last-minute practice that day.”

Rote Jr did not just take one for the team, but for the sport. “That’s part of the era,” he said. “That’s what you do. If you’re all in and you’re passionate about it, and you do it.”

Despite his astounding success in the made-for-TV event, Rote Jr decided to retire from Superstars at 26. “It’s time for me to move onto another stage,” he said during a 1977 interview. “I wanted to quit before they fire me. I’m sure people are tired of seeing Kyle Rote in Superstars.”

He never came close to matching that magical 1973 season, finishing his seven-year career with 43 goals in 142 games at 28 with the Houston Hurricane in 1979.

He certainly enjoyed an electric post-soccer career, which included stints as an indoor soccer broadcaster, the general manager and coach of the Memphis Americans (Major Indoor Soccer League) before becoming a sports agent that lasted 28 years.

“It’s a very risky industry,” Rote Jr said. “I’ve been very fortunate. In the NFL, its about 94-95% failure rate as an agent. I was very fortunate to be there for 28 years and be in that small group of that five percent that were able to make a living out of it. So I’m very thankful for that.”

Saying that, American pro soccer fans can say the same thing to Kyle Rote Jr.

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