A Sad Passing,...

Tom Brookshier, broadcaster and Eagles great, dies

By Bob Brookover
Inquirer Staff Writer

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."

A New Mexico native who played college football at the University of Colorado, Mr. Brookshier came to Philadelphia when the Eagles selected him in the 10th round of the 1953 NFL draft. In the years that followed, he fell in love with Philadelphia, according to his wife, Barbara.