Ex-Eagle Tom Brookshier laid to rest

The first time Pat Summerall met Tom Brookshier, at Franklin Field, it was a violent greeting.

"He just about split my face mask away from my helmet," Summerall said yesterday, eulogizing his friend and longtime broadcast partner at a memorial service at the Ardmore Presbyterian Church.

Brookshier, 78, died Jan. 29 after a battle with cancer. At a memorial service filled with local and national sports luminaries, eulogies were given for the former Eagles star defensive back by his friends Summerall, Dick Vermeil, Jack Whitaker, and Billy Cunningham, as well as Brookshier's daughter Betsy.

"He was the best man at our wedding, and the best man I ever knew," Summerall said.

No less an authority than Whitaker called the Summerall-Brookshier pairing for CBS national telecasts "the best [commentating] team the NFL has ever seen."

Brookshier also worked for years as a local sportscaster, and many local media figures and representatives from all four of Philadelphia's sports teams were in the church. The Eagles' delegation including owner Jeffrey Lurie and head coach Andy Reid.

On the receiving line, former Phillies broadcaster Andy Musser chatted with local basketball impresario Sonny Hill. Reid hugged Brookshier's teammate Tommy McDonald along the center aisle. Bill Giles represented the Phillies. Former Eagles teammate Chuck Bednarik, wearing his Pro Football Hall of Fame blazer, was one of the first at the church to pay his respects.

"I'll remember him as an outstanding football player, and a nice kid," Bednarik said. Then the player widely considered the toughest Eagle of all-time paid his former teammate his highest compliment, putting Brookshier at "90 to 100" on the toughness scale.

"We played football in those days," Bednarik said. "He played football."

Brookshier was a 10th-round draft choice in 1953 who later had his Eagles No. 40 retired. He retired in 1961 after breaking his leg against the Chicago Bears. He transferred his passion to the broadcast booth but did it in his own breezy, humorous style. His friends talked of a broadcaster who did a lot of preparation but didn't like to rehearse. Brookshier wanted everything to sound natural.

Betsy Brookshier said her father was her best friend and an authentic hero, "a happy warrior" - a tough guy but also cerebral, sensitive and generous, always bringing out the best in others, she said.

When she accompanied her father to the broadcast booth, "I couldn't tell if they were in commercial or not because his comments were exactly the same."

Betsy Brookshier also called her father - given name, Thomas Jefferson Brookshier - a patriot "devoted to his country not simply because it was his, but he loved it." Yesterday's service ended with the congregation joining a soloist in singing "God Bless America."

In his eulogy, Vermeil called Brookshier "a very unique piece of work. He could go from zero to 60 faster than anybody I've ever been around."

Vermeil lauded Brookshier's integrity.

"He never complained about anything," Vermeil said, "except maybe a few missed tackles in the Eagles' secondary."

Vermeil talked of a rafting trip with Brookshier down the Colorado River and time spent together in Key West with Brookshier and his wife, Barbara.

"It was easy to see their happiness wasn't a reward, but a consequence," Vermeil said.

Whitaker, a Hall of Fame broadcaster, said he first met Brookshier when they spoke together at a church at 63d and Lancaster when Brookshier was an Eagles rookie. He was immediately impressed with Brookshier's personality and quick mind, Whitaker said.

Cunningham spoke of a friendship that included fierce racquetball games and a long-distance trip by Brookshier while Cunningham was the Sixers' head coach. Brookshier told Cunningham, in a seven-game playoff series at the time, that he just wanted to make sure Cunningham was all right.

"Just walking into the church, the one thing I could hear was his laugh," Cunningham said. "I will never forget that laugh."

Summerall talked of Brookshier as a devoted husband and loving but firm father, as "a fun-loving prankster" and energetic businessman who was "constantly full of new ideas to tough problems."

During their days in the CBS booth "we had more fun than any pair should be allowed to have," Summerall said.

Their fun tended to extend after hours. Summerall recounted the time they were "asked to leave" a New York restaurant and hailed a Hansom cab back to the Plaza Hotel.

"I don't trust the driver, I'll ride shotgun," Brookshier said of the driver of the horse-drawn carriage.

As Summerall told the story, that worked fine until Brookshier fell out of the carriage, on to Sixth Avenue, worrying passersby.

"He's fine," Summerall remembers telling them. "He landed on his head."

The driver said they seemed to be having fun and mentioned that he wished he could leave his horse and go along with them. They told him to bring the horse along, which he did, as Summerall tells the story - adding he was pretty sure a horse had never been in the lobby of the Plaza Hotel before that night.

After telling the tale, Summerall then explained that his buddy performed the most valuable service years later, leading an intervention to deal with Summerall's alcohol problem. Summerall said it took great courage on Brookshier's part to risk their friendship for a greater good, and Brookshier fully understood that risk existed. Brookshier told Summerall there was an airplane waiting to take him to the Betty Ford Center. Brookshier accompanied him on the plane.

"Truly, no blood brother could have meant more to me than Brookie did," Summerall said.

Vermeil put it like this: "Your laughter will always ring in our ears."