[4][5] Whyte was born in Cowdenbeath, Fife, Scotland,[1] and played in the Scottish Football League for Dunfermline Athletic.
He made his debut in the 1929–30 Football League season, and went on to make 73 league appearances, scoring 15 goals,[4] before he and Stanley teammate Harold Riley joined fellow Northern Section club Lincoln City in the 1931 close season.
[6] According to a season preview in the Daily Express, Whyte was "expected to be a useful substitute" for Walter Lax, who had been transferred to Blackpool for a "substantial sum".
[6] Whyte set a club record of 183 consecutive appearances in league matches, between March 1934 and September 1938.
[6] He left Lincoln at the end of the 1938–39 season, having made 322 appearances in all first-team competitions,[1] a total that at the time was the third-highest in the club's history.