Longtime Iowa sportscaster Bob Brooks dies at age 89

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) - Longtime Iowa sports broadcaster Bob Brooks, who spent his more than seven-decade career covering everything from high school games to Hawkeyes athletics, has died. He was 89.

Brooks' son, Rob Brooks, told The Associated Press on Sunday that his father died Saturday at his Cedar Rapids home.

Brooks was born in Cedar Rapids and graduated from the city's Franklin High School in 1944, the Des Moines Register reported (http://dmreg.co/291xiwN ). That was the same year he began his first broadcasting job, interning with a local radio station through his four years at the University of Iowa.

Affectionately known as "Brooksie," he worked for a variety of Iowa radio and television stations throughout his career. For the last 15 years, he covered sports for Cedar Rapids radio station KMRY, until his recent illness.

"What a storied career," John Walters, the radio voice of the Iowa State Cyclones, told the Register. "I mean, all the way to the very end. I was always amazed that he still had the energy to do it in his late 80s."

Rob Brooks, who is a reporter for the Hawkeye Radio Network, said he and his dad hosted a radio show together every week for the last several years until his father's health declined.

"I'm so thankful for that time we had," he said. "He was really passionate about sports in general. He loved most of it, not just football and basketball. He loved everything from horse racing to golf."

Besides his son, Brooks is survived by his wife, Susie.

A memorial service will likely be held later this summer, Rob Brooks said.

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Information from: The Des Moines Register, http://www.desmoinesregister.com