Jim Brooks†
Inducted: 1990
Hometown: USA
Best Known for: Athletics Administration
1919-March 11, 1996
Brooks was a diligent organizer and administrator who brought the Valley's largest university into sporting prominence over a 35-year career that culminated in 1983.
Starting at what was then Edinburg Regional College in the late 1940s, Brooks would eventually hire all the great coaches who helped establish the school as a power, including Sam Williams (basketball), Al Ogletree (baseball) plus Harry Meng and Don Russell (tennis).
Once an assistant coach for Paul “Bear” Bryant at Kentucky, Brooks was the last football coach in Bronc history (1948-50) and then took over as the university's first athletic director, winning the Knute Rockne Athletic Director of the Year Award and guiding the construction of the first major athletic facilities on campus.
During his tenure, the program evolved from NAIA to NCAA Division II and then NCAA Division I. Brooks is remembered as a great man who accomplished great things for the Broncs. He was partly responsible for leading the fight to let African-American athletes compete on equal terms in track, basketball and other sports.