Iowa Broadcasting Icon Bob Brooks Has Died [Video Tribute]

An icon, a legend, and a true gentleman, Bob Brooks has passed away at the age of 89.

Bob was one of the voices of the Iowa Hawkeyes for nearly six decades. He was there for all of the Iowa football team's Rose Bowl games. All of them. When you would listen to his broadcasts, Bob's vocal intensity seemed to rise with the intensity on the floor or field. He was one of the greats and one of my mentors.

I first met Bob after being hired at KHAK in 1990. We worked together for about a decade. I would talk to him each night as he prepared his sports reports for the following morning. I also had the pleasure of working with Brooksie, as so many people called him, on high school football and basketball games on KHAK-AM. I spent countless hours with him producing pregame segments for Iowa football and basketball pregames for the Learfield Radio Network when KHAK-FM was one of Iowa's three flagship stations.

Bob Brooks was a special man. He didn't just teach me about sports. I marveled at no matter how long the day or the game, he always had a smile and handshake for adoring fans. There were plenty of them.

And oh how he loved the Hawkeyes. He was always the ultimate optimist when it came to Iowa sports. We should all be that way. That's the definition of a true fan, and Bob was not just a great broadcaster he was undoubtedly one of the Iowa Hawkeyes greatest fans.

My heart is SO heavy tonight, like the thousands upon thousands who listened to him on the radio, watched him on TV or were the recipient of one of those smiles and handshakes. We'll miss you, Bob. Oh, how we'll miss you.