Rote played college football at Rice Institute in Houston, quarterbacking the Owls under head coach Jess Neely.

As a senior in 1949, Rote led the Owls to a 10–1 season, capped by a 27–13 win over North Carolina in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on January 2.

[5] During the fourth game of the season in mid-October against rival SMU (that featured cousin Kyle Rote), he led the Owls back from a 14–0 deficit to a 41–27 win at the Cotton Bowl.

He spent a total of seven seasons in Green Bay under head coaches Gene Ronzani and Lisle Blackbourn, leading the hapless Packers' offense while the defense annually ranked among the league's worst.

During the span of his Green Bay career, Rote ranked third in the NFL in passing touchdowns, trailing only Bobby Layne and Norm Van Brocklin.

As for the 1957 Green Bay Packers, they averaged four points per game fewer than the year before in spite of the addition of future hall of famers Bart Starr and Paul Hornung.

Layne was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers after the second game of the 1958 season,[16][17] leaving Rote to guide the aging and rapidly declining Lions.

[18] Rather than retire, the ten-year veteran headed north of the border to the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL).

Looking for a quarterback to lead the team in 1963 while a young John Hadl developed, the San Diego Chargers of the American Football League (AFL) came calling.

For his part in directing the league's top offense, Rote was named first-team All-AFL and captured the Associated Press Player of the Year award.

Proving that his 1957 NFL title performance was no fluke, he led the Chargers to a 51–10 win over the Boston Patriots in the 1963 AFL championship game.

Rote was the starter for the AFL championship game on the road against the Buffalo Bills, but neither he nor Hadl could do much against the swarming defense without Hall of Fame receiver Lance Alworth (knee hyperextension) and running back Keith Lincoln, injured in the first quarter with a broken rib.