Kyle Rote, 74; Was Record-Setter as a N.Y. Giant Receiver

Kyle Rote, a record-setting receiver for the New York Giants so popular that several teammates named children after him, died Wednesday of cardiopulmonary complications at a Baltimore hospital. He was 74.

Rote was a longtime smoker who suffered from emphysema in recent years and last week underwent emergency surgery.

An All-American at Southern Methodist University, Rote caught 300 passes for 4,797 yards--a 16-yard average--and 48 touchdowns as a Giant. He was the team’s career receiving leader when he retired and is currently sixth among Giants. His 312 points are 10th best in franchise history.

According to his son, Kyle Rote Jr., a onetime professional soccer star and now a National Football League player agent, 14 former Giants--including Jimmy Patton, Don Heinrich and Pat Summerall--named children after his father. Hall of Fame running back Frank Gifford has a son and granddaughter named Kyle, both in honor of Rote.

“He was an artist, he was a poet, and he was a kind, gentle man who was a great athlete,” Gifford said. “That’s pretty rare.”

Rote joined the Giants in 1951, a year before Gifford, and tore a knee ligament his rookie season when he stepped in a hole at a preseason practice in Jonesboro, Ark. He never fully recovered and wound up moving to receiver. “He had an incredible career, considering he did it on one leg,” Gifford said. “Had he not stepped in the hole, he would be in the Hall of Fame and I probably wouldn’t be.”

The Giants won the right to select Rote through a special lottery. At SMU, he shared the same backfield with legendary running back Doak Walker. As a senior in 1950, Rote ran for 762 yards, passed for 490 and scored 13 touchdowns.

“He was so good at everything, whether it was pingpong, pool or kicking off,” Giant owner Wellington Mara said Thursday of Rote. “The outstanding backs of that era were Alex Webster and Frank Gifford. Before Kyle hurt his knee, he was as powerful a runner as Webster was and as smooth a runner and as good a receiver as Gifford was. He just had so much ability.”

Rote, a team captain 10 times in 11 seasons, had such an understanding of the game that the Giants once sent him on the road--during his playing days--to scout a game between Chicago and Green Bay.

“Kyle Rote was one of the smartest football men of that era,” former Giant quarterback Y.A. Tittle said. “He had a great offensive mind regarding the passing game, and football in general. Plus the fact, there has probably never been a nicer person to ever play the game. Everybody liked Kyle Rote. Fans liked him, sportswriters liked him, players liked him. He was just a good person and an outstanding football player.”

Gifford said the Giants had “a lot of animosity” between their offensive and defensive units, and Rote was the only player to bridge that gap. “When he had something to say, it was important,” Gifford said.

While a player, Rote spent his off-seasons as sports director at a New York radio station. After his playing career ended, he went into broadcasting and became one of NBC’s most popular sportscasters in the late 1960s and early ‘70s.

“Every athlete that goes into broadcasting, guys like Pat Summerall and Frank Gifford, owes him a debt of gratitude,” Hall of Fame linebacker Sam Huff said. “He really did the first locker room report show by an athlete. Kyle Rote did that at Yankee Stadium. When I was traded to Washington, I copied what he did and I still do a locker room show for the Redskins.”

Besides Kyle Rote Jr., Rote is survived by his third wife, Nina, and three other children from his first marriage: Gary, Chris and Elizabeth. A wake will be held Tuesday at the Frank Campbell Funeral Home in New York City. A private burial will be held at the National Memorial Cemetery in Arlington, Va., either Wednesday or Thursday.