{"id":9666,"date":"2025-11-13T11:20:58","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T11:20:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=9666"},"modified":"2025-11-13T11:20:59","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T11:20:59","slug":"larry-brooks-post-legend-and-hall-of-fame-hockey-writer-dead-at-75","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=9666","title":{"rendered":"Larry Brooks, Post legend and Hall of Fame hockey writer, dead at 75"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The best nights, of so many very good nights, were the ones when Larry Brooks roamed the press level and the dressing room of Madison Square Garden, hands in his front pocket, notebook in his back pocket. The poker face was intact, and it was necessary, because tucked in that notebook was The Story.<\/p>\n<p>He had The Story, of course. He knew it. The players and the team\u2019s brass knew it. All of the hundreds of potential sources who could\u2019ve filtered him The Story knew it. His competitors sure knew it. Most of all, thousands of hockey fans hungry for news knew it, and knew that if there was something to be learned about the Rangers, the Devils or the Islanders, there was one place to find out about it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Post has to be not just a first-read, but the must-read,\u201d Larry Brooks often said. \u201cWe all do what we can to make it so. And this is my small part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He was right about most things, and wrong about that last one: he was a huge, larger-than-life part of it, all across the 38 years and two separate tenures that he worked here. That reign over the hearts and minds of the Post readers he fought for and fretted over ended Thursday morning, when Brooks died after a brief battle with cancer.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>New York Post\u2019s legendary hockey writer Larry Brooks passed away from cancer at age 75.  <span class=\"credit\">Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>He was 75. He leaves behind a son, Jordan, daughter-in-law, Joanna, and two grandchildren: 14-year-old Scott and 12-year old Reese. His wife, Janis, died in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was around the crease all the time,\u201d said Dave Maloney, who broadcasts Rangers games for MSG TV and first met Brooks when he was a 19-year-old rookie defenseman for the team and Brooks was cutting his teeth at the Post. \u201cHe was a Hall of Famer at what he did and more often than not he tapped it in. On the journey to reach the crease he might get body checked and hit in the nose, maybe got his jaw broken. But he always got there.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n    <\/aside>\n<p>Most of that is metaphorical. <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2018\/06\/01\/the-posts-larry-brooks-voted-into-hockey-hall-of-fame\/\">The Hall of Fame part is real<\/a>. In a career filled with capstones, one of the brightest was in 2018 when he received the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor the last three decades, no one covered a sports beat in this city better than Larry did on the Rangers,\u201d Post Executive Sports Editor Chris Shaw said. \u201cWell <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2018\/11\/13\/our-blue-seater-larry-brooks-enshrined-in-hockey-hall\/\">before the Hockey Hall of Fame enshrined him<\/a>, Larry had already earned a place among the legends who have graced the pages of The Best Sports in Town.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The men he covered recognized that, too.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI like to think that I was a guy who could change the momentum of a game when I came on the ice,\u201d said Sean Avery, the immensely popular left wing who played parts of six seasons for the Rangers. \u201cBrooksie could do that with the swipe of his pen. The guys that really understood playing for the Rangers all had a good relationship with Brooksie because he loves hockey players.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Said\u00a0James Dolan, executive chairman and CEO of MSG Sports:<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>New York Post hockey writer Larry Brooks after receiving the Elmer Ferguson Award before the 2018 induction ceremony at the Hockey Hall Of Fame on Nov. 12, 2018 in Toronto. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cBesides the stellar job that Larry did covering the New York Rangers, what few people know is that he and I would meet on occasion and he would give me his unabashed opinion on how the franchise was doing and what we needed to do to win. This never appeared in any of his columns, but I found his advice to be invaluable and will miss it dearly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tellingly, one of his highest-profile feuds came with former Rangers coach John Tortorella, with whom Brooks regularly skirmished during much of Tortorella\u2019s time as Rangers coach from 2008-2013. The two had long ago reconciled but Tortorella reached out to Brooks this week to check in, a call Jordan Brooks said meant the world to his father.<\/p>\n<p>Brooks was also a happy advocate for the players and issues he cared most about. He fought in his column for years to push the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/03\/22\/sports\/now-is-the-time-for-rangers-to-right-their-brad-park-wrong\/\">Rangers to retire Brad Park\u2019s jersey and let it hang in the Garden rafters <\/a>alongside Brian Leetch, a fellow No. 2. It was Brooks who dubbed Henrik Lundqvist \u201cKing Henrik.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hockey was his abiding professional love, and it is what he\u2019ll best be remembered for. But early in Brooks\u2019 first tenure with the Post he was assigned to cover the Bronx Zoo Yankees of 1977, taking over the beat after the All-Star Game, \u201cand in about five minutes he proved he could hang in there with the most veteran baseball writers,\u201d Steve Jacobson, who covered that team for Newsday, said in 1996.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Larry Brooks sits in the stands during a Rangers practice before Game 2 of their first-round playoff series against the Canadiens on April 13, 2017.    <span class=\"credit\">Anthony J. Causi<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A few weeks earlier, moonlighting for a talk-show shift on the radio while subbing for a young broadcaster on WMCA named John Sterling, he was handed a slip of paper just before midnight which he first refused to believe but then shared with all of 570-AM\u2019s listeners: Tom Seaver had just been traded from the Mets to the Reds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd for the next hour,\u201d Brooks said in 2017, \u201cI had to listen to one caller after another accuse me of being a liar. By the end, they just wished I was.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n    <\/aside>\n<p>In 1982, his fascination for the inner workings of hockey pulled Brooks across the Hudson River to become the Devils\u2019 vice president of communications, a job he held for 10 years. Five years later, Lou Lamoriello arrived as general manager and thus began a 38-year friendship that was often collegial, occasionally contentious but always rooted in mutual respect.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat never changed, from day one, was the personal part of our relationship,\u201d said Lamoriello, who ran the Devils from 1987-2015 and the Islanders from 2018 through last April and who sat at the Brooks family table in Toronto the night Brooks was honored by the Hall of Fame. \u201cOne thing you always knew about Larry was that he\u2019d tell it like it is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His colleagues knew another side of Brooks, too: one who grew up on Manhattan\u2019s Upper West Side as a ferocious Rangers and Yankees fan, who devoured the New York tabloids the way most kids his age crushed cheeseburgers and milkshakes. He held in high esteem the writers who\u2019d come before him, and was determined to make certain the ones who came after would carry the baton with similar devotion.<\/p>\n<p>When the Post\u2019s present Rangers writer, Mollie Walker, was handed the impossible task of following Brooks on the beat, her first call, smartly, was to Brooks, hoping he\u2019d empty his brain (and perhaps his phone directory) for her. But Brooks put a surcharge on such priceless information: he told Walker to first read the NHL labor agreement, cover to cover.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Larry Brooks in 2002 <span class=\"credit\">New York Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI wasn\u2019t being a hard-ass,\u201d he explained. \u201cBut if you\u2019re going to cover this game, you\u2019d better know <em>all<\/em> of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Much to his delight, a week later Walker called him back and said, \u201cAsk me anything.\u201d He did. She knew every answer. And thus was born a quintessential mentorship, as well as a close friendship between two writers separated by 50 years but bonded by a common commitment to doing the job right and a passion for hockey.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was the best hockey writer of the past 50 years,\u201d said Mark Everson, for many years his fellow hockey writer at the newspaper, forever his friend. \u201cHe said he was lucky to get to The Post, but The Post was even luckier to have him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Everson recalled his friend as a fierce advocate for access for reporters \u2014 echoing the mission of one of his newspaper heroes, Dick Young \u2014 and recalled when he and Brooks were covering the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals between the Devils and the Ducks. Brooks overheard\u00a0Ducks\/Disney boss Michael Eisner talking about the team\u2019s parade route to be used after they won Game 7 in New Jersey.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>New York Post hockey writer Larry Brooks holding his plaque as winner of the Elmer Ferguson Award at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto on Nov. 12, 2018. <span class=\"credit\">Brett Cyrgalis<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Brooks, one more time, had The Story, and so the next morning did the Post. The Ducks went berserk, denying it, accusing Brooks of inventing a controversy. But then a kid working at a college radio station released a tape of Eisner saying exactly what Brooks had written. Devils coach Pat Burns plastered that on the bulletin board.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLarry wrote it,\u201d Burns crowed, \u201cand Larry\u2019s always right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Devils won Game 7. Eisner canceled his parade.<\/p>\n<p>To the end his columns were still alive and crackling; to the end he fought the good fight calling Park one of his all-time favorites. By the end, though, he had another favorite hockey player. \u201cI told Larry to send me Scott\u2019s schedule,\u201d Lamoriello said, laughing, \u201cbecause I wanted to see what Hockey Grandfather Larry looked and sounded like.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Avery has another wish:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis grandson plays, and I hear he\u2019s pretty good. I hope he can read this and understand his grandfather holds a lot of weight in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the Post, too.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014 Additional reporting by Dave Blezow<\/em>\n                        <\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/11\/13\/sports\/rip-brooksie-larry-brooks-post-legend-and-hall-of-fame-hockey-writer-dead-at-75\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The best nights, of so many very good nights, were the ones when Larry Brooks roamed the press level and the dressing room of Madison Square Garden, hands in his front pocket, notebook in his back pocket. The poker face was intact, and it was necessary, because tucked in that notebook was The Story. He &#8230; <a title=\"Larry Brooks, Post legend and Hall of Fame hockey writer, dead at 75\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/?p=9666\" aria-label=\"Read more about Larry Brooks, Post legend and Hall of Fame hockey writer, dead at 75\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Larry-Brooks-Post-legend-and-Hall-of-Fame-hockey-writer.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9666"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9668,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9666\/revisions\/9668"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}