"Brookie" mourned by Philly, Broadcasting Industry

[Kasept]

In advance of a Super Bowl, and at a time when the spew from the broadcast booth has become mind-numbingly vapid, it's wholly appropriate that Tom Brookshier's passing be widely noted and mourned. Brookshier, along with long time on-air (and barstool) running mate Pat Summerall, set the standard for everything that followed in televised football commentating. And on the field of play, there were few more devastating cornerbacks.

There's no point in me writing anything given what they are writing in the Iladelph papers... Bob Brookover's complete and wonderful obit:



Tom Brookshier, broadcaster and Eagles great, dies
By Bob Brookover
Inquirer Staff Writer

http://www.philly.com/philly/obituar...eat__dies.html

Tom Brookshier, according to his friends, knew how to tackle.

Whether on the football field or as a television and radio personality, his impact was equally immense and intense.

He was an all-pro on the last Eagles team to win an NFL championship, in 1960, and was part of CBS's top NFL broadcast team during the 1970s along with his close friend Pat Summerall. In the late 1980s he hired Angelo Cataldi, launching the 610 WIP sports-talk format that remains in place today.

Mr. Brookshier, 78, died Friday of cancer at Lankenau Hospital.

"He was a very complex and wonderful person," said Dick Vermeil, the former Eagles coach who later became a broadcast partner with Brookshier at CBS. "He had great compassion for people, and he could be very intense. He was a tough football player, but he was also gentle as a teddy bear. He had just an unbelievable blend of positive qualities. He's a Philadelphia icon just like Chuck Bednarik."