Thomas Jefferson "Tom" Brookshier (December 16, 1931 – January 29, 2010) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
professional
footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player, coach and
sportscasterIn sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
. He was a starting
defensive backIn American football and Canadian football, defensive backs are the players on the defensive team who take positions somewhat back from the line of scrimmage; they are distinguished from the defensive line players and linebackers, who take positions directly behind or close to the line of...
for the
Philadelphia EaglesThe Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
for seven seasons from
1953The 1953 NFL season was the 34th regular season of the National Football League. The names of the American and National conferences were changed to the Eastern and Western conferences....
to
1961The 1961 NFL season was the 42nd regular season of the National Football League. The league expanded to 14 teams with the addition of the Minnesota Vikings, after the team's owners declined to be charter members of the new American Football League. The schedule was also expanded from 12 games per...
. He later paired with
Pat SummerallGeorge Allen "Pat" Summerall is a former American football player and television sportscaster, having worked at CBS, Fox, and ESPN.Summerall is best known for his work with John Madden on NFL telecasts for CBS and Fox.-High school:...
on the primary broadcast team for
National Football League (NFL)The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
games on
CBSThe NFL on CBS is the brand name of the CBS television network's coverage of the National Football League's American Football Conference games, produced by CBS Sports.-Market coverage and television policies:...
during the 1970s.
Early life
Brookshier attended high school at
Roswell High SchoolRoswell High School is a public senior high school in Roswell, New Mexico. It is a part of the Roswell Independent School District. Established in 1913, it is the oldest public high school in the city. The colors of RHS are: Dark Crimson Red, White and Black, their mascot is a Coyote...
in his hometown of
Roswell, New MexicoRoswell is a city in and the county seat of Chaves County in the southeastern quarter of the state of New Mexico, United States. The population was 48,366 at the 2010 census. It is a center for irrigation farming, dairying, ranching, manufacturing, distribution, and petroleum production. It is also...
. At Roswell, he received all-state honors in football, basketball and baseball. As a three-year letterman in football at the
University of ColoradoThe Colorado Buffaloes football program represents the University of Colorado at Boulder in college football at the NCAA Division I FBS level. The team is currently a member of the Pacific-12 Conference, having previously been a charter member of the Big 12 Conference. Before joining the Big 12,...
from 1950 through 1952, he was a defensive back,
fullbackA fullback is a position in the offensive backfield in American and Canadian football, and is one of the two running back positions along with the halfback...
and
return specialistA Return Specialist is a player on American football or Canadian football special teams who specializes in returning punts and kickoff returns. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most play other positions as well. The special teams counterpart of a return specialist is a...
. One of his gridiron teammates was John Swigert. Brookshier was also a
relief pitcherA relief pitcher or reliever is a baseball or softball pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed due to injury, ineffectiveness, fatigue, ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as being substituted by a pinch hitter...
on the university's baseball team.
NFL career
He was a 10th-round NFL draft pick. He played defensive back for the Philadelphia Eagles of the
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
from 1953 to 1961, missing both the
1954The 1954 NFL season was the 35th regular season of the National Football League. The season ended when the Cleveland Browns defeated the Detroit Lions in the NFL Championship Game.-Major rule changes:...
and
1955The 1955 NFL season was the 36th regular season of the National Football League. NBC paid $100,000 to replace DuMont as the national television network for the NFL Championship Game...
seasons to serve in the
United States Air ForceThe United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
. He was a starter on the Eagles'
NFL Championship teamThe 1960 National Football League championship game was the 28th NFL title game. The game was played on Monday, December 26, 1960 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
in 1960, and was selected for the
Pro BowlIn professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game of the National Football League . Since the merger with the rival American Football League in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference against those...
twice. Brookshier's playing career ended because of a compound leg fracture, sustained while making a tackle on
Willie GalimoreWillie Galimore was an American football running back for the Chicago Bears from 1957-1963. He attended Florida A&M University, working with the legendary coach Jake Gaither...
in an Eagles' 16–14 victory over the
Chicago BearsThe Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
at
Franklin FieldFranklin Field is the University of Pennsylvania's stadium for football, field hockey, lacrosse, sprint football, and track and field . It is also used by Penn students for recreation, and for intramural and club sports, including touch football and cricket, and is the site of Penn's graduation...
on November 5, 1961. He was a member of the Eagles' Honor Roll and was one of only seven players to have their number (40) retired by the team.
As a lieutenant, he was a backfield coach at the
United States Air Force AcademyThe United States Air Force Academy is an accredited college for the undergraduate education of officer candidates for the United States Air Force. Its campus is located immediately north of Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, United States...
for one year in 1955.
Broadcasting career
Brookshier began sportscasting for WCAU-
AMWPHT is a CBS Radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, broadcasting on 1210 kHz. A 50,000-watt clear-channel station, it broadcasts in an omnidirectional pattern that allows it to cover most of the eastern half of North America at night. It uses the nickname "Talk Radio 1210 WPHT." The...
-
FMWOGL is an FM radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.The station plays mostly post 1964 pop leaning Oldies positioned Classic Hits music, including Motown, soul and rock and roll spanning roughly 1964–1985. An occasional pre-1964 song is played. WOGL is owned by CBS Radio...
-
TVWCAU, channel 10, is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC Television Network, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. WCAU has its studios on the border between Philadelphia and Bala Cynwyd. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 34 from a transmitter in the...
in Philadelphia in 1962, eventually becoming the station's
sports directorA sports director is an individual at a television or radio station who is in charge of the sports department. In local news, the sports director is typically the station's primary sportscaster, and often anchors the primetime newscasts on weekdays. They are in charge of sports programming and...
. He joined
CBSThe NFL on CBS is the brand name of the CBS television network's coverage of the National Football League's American Football Conference games, produced by CBS Sports.-Market coverage and television policies:...
in 1965 as a
color commentatorA color commentator is a sports commentator who assists the play-by-play announcer, often by filling in any time when play is not in progress. The color analyst and main commentator will often exchange comments freely throughout the broadcast, when the play-by-play announcer is not describing the...
for
Eagles-NFL Draft:The 1965 NFL Draft and the 1965 AFL Draft both took place on Saturday, November 28, 1964. This was the day of the Army-Navy game that is normally the last game of the college season before the bowl games....
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-hosted
This Week in Pro Football, a weekly syndicated highlights show produced by
NFL FilmsNFL Films is a Mount Laurel, New Jersey-based company devoted to producing commercials, television programs, feature films, and documentaries on the National Football League, as well as other unrelated major events and awards shows...
. After CBS dismissed its main pro football voice
Ray ScottRay Scott , was an American sportscaster, best known for his broadcasts for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League. His brother Hal Scott was also a sportscaster.-Early life and career:Scott began his broadcasting career on local radio in the late 1930s...
in 1974, the network went against its standard practice of using a professional announcer for play-by-play by promoting Summerall and partnering him with Brookshier. The two former NFL players became arguably American television's most popular sports broadcasting team for the remainder of the
decadeA decade is a period of 10 years. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek dekas which means ten. This etymology is sometime confused with the Latin decas and dies , which is not correct....
. Describing the pair's on-air rapport, Summerall said, "With Brookie, it was more of a
conversationConversation is a form of interactive, spontaneous communication between two or more people who are following rules of etiquette.Conversation analysis is a branch of sociology which studies the structure and organization of human interaction, with a more specific focus on conversational...
, like two guys in a
saloonA bar is a business establishment that serves alcoholic drinks — beer, wine, liquor, and cocktails — for consumption on the premises.Bars provide stools or chairs that are placed at tables or counters for their patrons. Some bars have entertainment on a stage, such as a live band, comedians, go-go...
." Besides many regular-season and playoff contests, most of which involved the
Dallas CowboysThe Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...
who were the
National Football ConferenceThe National Football Conference is one of the two conferences of the National Football League . This conference and its counterpart, the American Football Conference , currently contain 16 teams each, making up the 32 teams of the NFL.-Current teams:Since 2002, the NFC has comprised 16 teams,...
's most dominant franchise at the time, the duo called
Super BowlThe Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
s
XSuper Bowl X was an American football game played on January 18, 1976 at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida to decide the National Football League champion following the 1975 regular season....
,
XIISuper Bowl XII was an American football game played on January 15, 1978 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana to decide the National Football League champion following the 1977 regular season...
and
XIVSuper Bowl XIV was an American football game played on January 20, 1980 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California to decide the National Football League champion following the 1979 regular season...
. Brookshier also worked pre- and post-game shows for four other Super Bowls. He and Summerall also appeared as themselves in the 1977 film
Black SundayBlack Sunday is a 1977 American thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer and based on the novel by Thomas Harris. The film starred Robert Shaw, Bruce Dern, and Marthe Keller and was nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture in 1978...
, which was partially filmed at Super Bowl X.
In 1981, Brookshier switched to calling play-by-play for the network, with
John MaddenJohn Earl Madden is a former American professional football player in the National Football League, a former Super Bowl-winning head coach with the Oakland Raiders in the American Football League and later the NFL, and a former color commentator for NFL telecasts. In 2006, he was inducted into...
taking his place as color commentator alongside Summerall.
Controversy
Brookshier became the subject of controversy because of a remark he made during a
Philadelphia EaglesThe 1983 Philadelphia Eagles season was their 51st in the league. The team improved upon their previous output of 3–6, winning five games. Despite the improvement, the team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the second straight season.-Player Selections:...
vs.
New Orleans SaintsThe 1983 New Orleans Saints season was the team's 17th as a member of the National Football League. They improved on their previous season's output of 4-5, winning eight games. Despite the improvement, the team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the seventeenth consecutive...
game broadcast on December 11, 1983. After a program note for an upcoming telecast of an NCAA men's basketball game involving the
University of LouisvilleThe University of Louisville is a public university in Louisville, Kentucky. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of the first universities chartered west of the Allegheny Mountains. The university is mandated by the Kentucky General...
, Brookshier said that the players on the Louisville team had "a collective I.Q. of about 40". This resulted in Neal Pilson, then president of CBS Sports, apologizing to Louisville school officials and later suspending Brookshier for the last weekend of the NFL's regular season. Louisville's athletic director, Bill Olsen, felt that the remark was racist, since Louisville's starting five were all
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
. 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." The apology was accepted by the university, as its president, Donald Swain, invited Brookshier to be the featured speaker at the school's annual football kickoff luncheon in
Clarksville, IndianaClarksville is a town in Clark County, Indiana, United States, along the Ohio River as a part of the Louisville Metropolitan area. The population was 21,724 at the 2010 census. The town, once a home site to George Rogers Clark, was founded in 1783 and is the oldest American town in the Northwest...
on August 2, 1984. Brookshier was reinstated in CBS's announcing lineup for the 1984 season, continuing as a network commentator through 1987.
Later life
In 1989, he hosted the morning show of the then-nascent 610 WIP (AM) sports format; the program was called
Breakfast with Brookshier, before he was paired with
Angelo CataldiAngelo Cataldi is a sports radio personality for 610 WIP in Philadelphia. Airing from 5:30am until 10:00am Eastern time, along with co-hosts Al Morganti, Keith Jones and Rhea Hughes.-Career:Cataldi is a native of Providence, Rhode Island...
and the program re-dubbed
Brookie and the Rookie, and then finally simply
Brookshier and Cataldi. He left broadcasting and was last known to be working as a consultant for CB Richard Ellis, an international commercial real-estate firm.
Brookshier died from
cancerCancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
at
Lankenau HospitalLankenau Hospital is a 351-bed tertiary care, community based teaching hospital located in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. It is a founding member of Main Line Health, a community-based not-for-profit health system, comprising Bryn Mawr Hospital, Paoli Hospital, and Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital...
on January 29, 2010.
External links
- Brookover, Bob. "Brookshier, 78, went from football stardom to broadcast fame," The Philadelphia Inquirer, Saturday, January 30, 2010.
- Lyon, Bill. "As a player, broadcaster and friend, Brookshier was All-Pro," The Philadelphia Inquirer, Saturday, January 30, 2010.
- "Eagles statement on the death of Tom Brookshier," The Philadelphia Inquirer, Saturday, January 30, 2010.
- Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia page on Brookshier
- Tom Brookshier football cards