Hawkeye Bob Brooks: Iowa Time Machine June 25, 2016

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On June 25, 2016, legendary Hawkeye announcer Bob Brooks passed away. For more than half a century, his broadcasts turned games into shared memories, making him one of the most familiar and trusted figures in Iowa athletics.

Brooks began his broadcasting career in Iowa City. At the same time, a student on the air of WSUI later built a long career in Cedar Rapids radio before becoming the enduring play-by-play voice of Iowa football and other Hawkeye sports. By the time he signed off for the final time, he had covered 65 seasons of Hawkeye football.

Brooks called all six of Iowa’s Rose Bowl appearances and earned wide recognition for his work, including the 2002 Chris Schenkel Award from the National Football Foundation. Fans remembered his shirt-and-tie professionalism, his familiar delivery, and the sense that he treated every game as part of a larger Iowa story.

Brooks gave radio listeners a vivid connection to the Hawkeyes, and that standard still shapes expectations for sports voices in Iowa. His career also shows how a broadcaster can become part of a community’s identity, especially when that broadcaster serves the same institution across generations. #Iowa #OTD #History #Broadcasting #CollegeSports