 Brookshierc. 1960 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 45, 40 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Cornerback | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born: | (1931-12-16)December 16, 1931 Roswell, New Mexico, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died: | January 29, 2010(2010-01-29) (aged 78) Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 196 lb (89 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| High school: | Roswell | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| College: | Colorado (1950–1952) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1953: 10th round, 177th pick | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
As a player: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
As a coach: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thomas Jefferson Brookshier (/ˈbrʊkˌʃaɪər/; December 16, 1931 – January 29, 2010) was an Americanfootball player, coach, andsportscaster. He played as acornerback with thePhiladelphia Eagles of theNational Football League (NFL) for seven seasons, from 1953 to 1961. He later paired withPat Summerall on the primary broadcast team for NFL games onCBS during the 1970s.
Born and raised inRoswell, New Mexico, Brookshier graduated fromRoswell High School in 1949. At RHS, he received all-state honors in football, basketball, and baseball.
As a three-yearletterman infootball at theUniversity of Colorado (1950–52), he was a defensive back,fullback, andreturn specialist.[1] One of his gridiron teammates was astronautJack Swigert, a crew member of the ill-fatedApollo 13 mission in1970, and acongressman-elect in 1982.[2]
Brookshier was also arelief pitcher on theCU baseball team,[1] and played one season ofminor league baseball in1954 for theRoswell Rockets of the class-DLonghorn League.
Atenth-round selection (117th overall) in the1953 NFL draft, Brookshier played defensive back for the Philadelphia Eagles of theNational Football League from1953 to1961, missing both the1954 and1955 seasons to serve in theUnited States Air Force. A starter on the Eagles'NFL Championship team in1960, he was selected for thePro Bowl twice.
At age 29, Brookshier's playing career ended midway through the 1961 season; he sustained acompound fracture of his right leg while making a tackle onWillie Galimore in the 16–14 victory over theChicago Bears atFranklin Field on November 5.[3][4][5][6] He was a member of the Eagles' Honor Roll and was one of only eight players whose numbers were retired by the team; Brookshier's number was 40.
As alieutenant, he was a backfield coach at theU.S. Air Force Academy for a season in1955.[7]
Brookshier began sportscasting for WCAU-AM-FM-TV inPhiladelphia in 1962, and became the station's sports director the followingyear.[8] He joinedCBS in 1965 as acolor commentator forEagles telecasts, and continued to call regional action after the network moved away from dedicated team announcers in 1968.
In the early 1970s, Brookshier and Summerall co-hostedThis Week in Pro Football, a weekly syndicated highlights show produced byNFL Films. After CBS dismissed its main pro football voiceRay Scott in 1974,[9] the network went against its standard practice of using a professional announcer forplay-by-play by promoting Summerall and partnering him with Brookshier.[10] The two former NFL players became arguably U.S. television's most popular sports broadcasting team for the remainder of the decade. Describing the pair's on-air rapport, Summerall said, "With Brookie, it was more of a conversation, like two guys in a saloon."[11] CBS, however, eventually found that their pairing exacerbated each of their respective issues with alcohol (Summerall admitted later that they would do heavy drinking the night before games) and desired more excitement in the booth, as their call ofSuper Bowl XIV had received mixed reviews.[12] As such, whenJohn Madden soon became an in-demand voice to utilize in broadcasting for CBS, they decided quickly to find a play-by-play voice to pair him with. To Summerall's chagrin, they paired him with Madden for select broadcasts starting in 1981. The result was deemed successful to maintain the two as the lead pair for CBS broadcasts for the decade to come.[13] Besides many regular-season and playoff contests, most of which involved theDallas Cowboys who were theNational Football Conference's most dominant franchise at the time, the duo had calledSuper BowlsX,XII, andXIV. Brookshier also worked pre-game and post-game shows for four other Super Bowls. He and Summerall also appeared as themselves in the1977 motion pictureBlack Sunday, which was partially filmed at Super Bowl X.
In 1976, Brookshier and Summerall called a heavyweight title fight betweenMuhammad Ali andJean Pierre Coopman live inprime time fromPuerto Rico on Friday, February 20.[14][15]Brent Musburger andPhyllis George ofThe NFL Today co-hosted the telecast that night. Meanwhile,Don Dunphy supplied some commentary between rounds. A month earlier, CBS assigned Summerall and Brookshier to announce aKen Norton bout againstPedro Lovell, a mere eight days before they calledSuper Bowl X.
RetiredOakland Raiders head coachJohn Madden joined CBS as a color analyst in1979; when he was paired with Summerall on the primary broadcast team in1981, Brookshier switched to calling play-by-play.[16]
Brookshier became the subject of controversy because of a remark he made in1983 during an NFL broadcast of anEagles–Saints game on December 11. After a program note for an upcoming telecast of anNCAA men's basketball game between defending national championNorth Carolina State andLouisville, Brookshier said that the Louisville players had "a collectiveI.Q. of about forty, but they can play basketball." Given a chance to walk back the statement by partnerCharlie Waters, Brookshier doubled down, saying "it's the truth."[17]
This resulted inNeal Pilson, then president of CBS Sports, apologizing to Louisville school officials and later suspending Brookshier for the last weekend of the NFL regularseason.[18] Louisville's athletic director, Bill Olsen, felt that the remark was racist, since Louisville's starting five were allAfrican American. Brookshier later apologized, calling his remark "stupid" and "dumb", but was angered over CBS's reaction, saying "I'm not about to be judged on one comment." He added, "I've done a lot of things for charity. Now my own network is bailing out on me and taking me off the air. After 20 years at CBS, I deserve better than this."[19] The apology was accepted by the university and university president Donald Swain invited Brookshier to be the featured speaker at the school's annual football kickoff luncheon inClarksville, Indiana on August 2, 1984.[20][21] Brookshier was reinstated in CBS's announcing lineup for the1984 season, continuing as a network commentator through1986.
In 1989, he hosted the morning show of the then-nascent 610WIP sports format; the program was calledBreakfast with Brookshier, before he was paired withAngelo Cataldi and the program re-dubbedBrookie and the Rookie, and then finally simplyBrookshier and Cataldi.[22] He left broadcasting and was last known to be working as a consultant for real estate brokerCB Richard Ellis.[23]
Brookshier died ofcancer atLankenau Medical Center on January 29, 2010.[24] TheBroadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia inducted Brookshier into their Hall of Fame in 2007.
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | NFL on CBS lead game analyst 1974–1981 | Succeeded by |
