Brooks calls Hall of Fame honor 'special'

NEW YORK --The start of Larry Brooks' writing career was like a scene from a vintage newspaper movie, where someone in the newsroom yells, "Get me rewrite."

Brooks was on the rewrite desk at the New York Post during the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics when writer Paul Zimmerman called into the newsroom to dictate results from the gymnastics event featuring Nadia Comaneci.
"I wrote it in about 10 minutes, maybe 15, and the sports editor said, 'You just did this?' " Brooks said. "I said, 'Yeah, I just did this.' His name was Ike Gellis and he was an old-time newspaper guy. He said to me, 'Well, what do you want to do?' I said I wanted to cover hockey. He said 'OK'."
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Forty-two years later, Brooks' career as a preeminent hockey reporter in New York has been recognized by the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Brooks is the 2018 winner of the Elmer Ferguson Award, which is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association and given by the Hall of Fame "in recognition of distinguished members of the newspaper profession whose words have brought honor to journalism and to hockey."

"I appreciate the recognition," Brooks said. "I think it's something when my name is up on a plaque, that will be spectacular for my grandson and granddaughter to be able to see. To be in the company of people like Red Fisher, Frank Orr, Fran Rosa and Michael Farber, it's special."
Brooks wasn't sure what he wanted to do after graduating from City College of New York in 1971. He thought about going to law school and even did well on the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), but never did anything with it.
He started at the New York Post in 1975 as a part-time clerk working the overnight shift. His first out-of-office assignment was covering the New York Islanders in 1976. That led to a move to cover the New York Rangers in the 1978-79 season.
The Rangers went to the Stanley Cup Final in 1979. Brooks stayed as a hockey columnist for three more seasons until the Colorado Rockies moved east and became the New Jersey Devils.
"I had been writing for six years and I thought, 'I don't know how much longer I can do this, how much longer I can write? I've written everything,' " Brooks said. "So, Billy McMillan was the general manager of Colorado/New Jersey and I had known Billy from covering the Islanders. He said to me, 'Have you ever thought about working on the team side?' I said, 'It's very appealing.' "
It appealed to Brooks so much that he served as the Devils public relations director and then vice president of communications from 1982-92. He also called games on the radio for five of those seasons, first with Dale Arnold and then with Chris Moore.
"We just had a blast," Brooks said.
But writing was his calling, so Brooks returned to the Post to begin covering the Rangers again and writing his "Slap Shots" column in 1993.
He has been doing it ever since.
"I think I've been a reflection of the teams I've been around," Brooks said. "I was very, very lucky to start covering the pre-dynasty Islanders and be with them. I was fortunate to cover three Devils Stanley Cup teams. I've covered a lot of great, great players. I've gotten to know a lot of great players well. It's pretty cool on the day you hear you're getting into the Hall of Fame that you get texts from Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier."
Photos courtesy of Charles Wenzelberg and Anthony J. Causi/New York Post