R.I.P. Cedar Rapids Sportscaster Bob Brooks

Bob Brooks

Bob Brooks, whose broadcasting career spanned seven decades, died Saturday at age 89, according to The Gazette in Cedar Rapids.

Brooks had a passion for high schools sports and a devotion to the Iowa Hawkeyes, but he covered everything from professional baseball to the Olympics.

Phil Haddy, a former University of Iowa sports information director who worked with Brooks at KCRG-TV, called him “a jewel for the city of Cedar Rapids.”

“He was a true gentleman,” Haddy said. “Probably not a nicer person that I’ve known or dealt with. ... He didn’t say bad things about people. If he did, I never heard them.”

Bill Happel, a star athlete at Cedar Rapids Washington and a football standout at Iowa, called Brooks an “icon.”

“It was the coolest thing in the world to be one of the three guys to be called up to the press box,” said Happel, who later worked alongside Brooks at KHAK 98.1 FM. “I don’t think anyone ever covered high schools sports like Bob Brooks.”

A Cedar Rapids native and Iowa graduate, Brooks did it all in broadcasting — working radio and television for KCRG, handling play-by-play for the Hawkeyes and doing daily sports reports for several Cedar Rapids radio stations, most recently at KMRY 1450 AM.


Brooks graduated from Franklin High School in 1944 and already had ventured into broadcasting. WSUI radio lacked male voices during World War II, so Brooks’ speech and drama teacher had recommended him as an intern to station management.

His storytelling ability and detailed memory set him apart, those who knew him said.

“That’s the beauty of him,” said Campbell, who had lunch with Brooks every Monday. “I used to love listening to him tell stories.”

Brooks worked for WSUI from 1943 to 1948, KCRG from 1949 to 1976, KHAK from 1977 to 2000 and then KMRY until his recent illness.