Hall of Honor
Top rebounder, dependable scorer, superb ball handler, confident playmaker--John Brooks filled all these roles as a major contributor to the great success of the Beloit basketball teams that won 57 of 68 games during 1952-55. His value to the Buccaneers as a forward is perhaps best exemplified by the fact that, in his senior season, the team dropped three of its first four games when he was out because of a back injury. Upon his return, Beloit won a single season school-record 21 consecutive games before bowing in the quarterfinals of the 32-team NAIA tournament in Kansas City. Brooks was subsequently named to the 1955 Helms Foundation NAIA All-America team. The 1954-55 Bucs also set a Beloit record by averaging 85.85 points a contest, good for third best nationally, with Brooks scoring 218 markers to finish his career with 503. He also was a field-event standout in track, winning two letters and going undefeated in the high jump as a junior. During the Army service in Germany after college, he played on the U.S. basketball team that won the European military championship. Brooks, who has been an avid golfer over the past three decades, is vice president and controller of two life insurance companies in a group wholly owned by Deere & Company of Moline, Illinois.
