Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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WHERE HAVE YOU GONE? NFL All‑Rookie Team, selected by the Pro Football Writers of America, after rushing for 1,063 yards and 4.8 yards per carry at Washington — the former second‑round pick (45th overall selec‑ tion) transitioned seamlessly to infor‑ mation technologies while utilizing his Notre Dame degree in manage‑ ment information systems. Although he had aspirations to fol‑ low a coaching path and was an intern for Tony Dungy at Indianapolis and an assistant for the Berlin Thunder of NFL Europe, Brooks opted for a career where he believed he could advance faster while supporting his growing family. He worked with The Nordam Group in Tulsa for six years as a PC network technician and system business an‑ alyst, and then was the IT network specialist for Union Public Schools in Tulsa. In January 2004, he and his family returned to Notre Dame through an opening in its Office of Information Technologies. "It's a great place to raise a family," he said of his return. In 2008, he joined the school's athlet‑ ics department, and his current roles today include serving as a liaison be‑ tween that department and alumni, working directly with the Notre Dame Monogram Club staff and Irish head football coach Brian Kelly on numer‑ ous projects related to the organiza‑ tion and former football players, and assisting Fighting Irish Digital Media with coverage of Notre Dame foot‑ ball. He also is an administrator for the men's and women's cross country and track & field programs. His favorite role is providing men‑ torship to the student‑athletes. "I get an opportunity to talk to our young men and women in different sports about a lot of things nobody told me coming out of college," Brooks said. "I always tell the young men and women this: When 2:30 or 3 o'clock rolls around, a lot of the students go back to take a nap or start some study‑ ing — but that's when you go to work. "And through that ability to man‑ age your time and to overcome ad‑ versity — it's not easy here — you learn a level of sacrifice that a lot of regular students don't get but a lot of corporations understand. That's what they look for: students that are willing to compete, do things the right way and have a willingness to go the extra mile." It's a path Brooks has consciously followed, even when he didn't know it. ✦ Unbreakable Record? Some records are not meant to be broken, mainly because they seem so unreachable: Wilt Chamberlain's 100 points in an NBA game, Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak … and maybe Reggie Brooks' career average of 7.6 yards per carry at Notre Dame (minimum 150 carries). A 6.0 average would be the gold standard, while 5.0 remains highly lauded. On Notre Dame's top-five career list, no one beyond 1928 joins Brooks. The four after him are Don Miller (6.8 from 1922-24), Christie Flanagan (6.4 from 1926-28), George Gipp (6.34 from 1917-20) and Jim Crow- ley (6.3 from 1922-24). — Lou Somogyi