Tom Brookshier

Biography: Fly Eagles Fly
On the road to victory
Fly Eagles Fly Score a touchdown, one, two, three Hit 'em low Hit 'em high And watch our Eagles fly Fly Eagles Fly On the road to victory. E-A-G-L-E-S! EAGLES! The Eagles fight song is an indelible part of Tom Brookshier's life. His No. 40 jersey was retired to show how much he meant to the Eagles organization. Tom Brookshier was a promising defensive back out of Rosewall High and the University of Colorado. The Philadelphia Eagles drafted him in 1953. After military service took him away in 1954-55, Brookshier was back in the Eagles' uniform when the NFL tide turned in New York's favor. The archrival Giants won the NFL Championship of 1956, which did not sit well in Philly. Brookshier, along with linebacker Chuck Bednarik and quarterback Norm Van Brocklin, got their revenge in 1960. The Eagles won the NFL Championship over Green Bay 17-13. Philly sought to repeat in 1961, but in the eighth game, Brookshier sufferedFly Eagles Fly
On the road to victory
Fly Eagles Fly
Score a touchdown, one, two, three
Hit 'em low
Hit 'em high
And watch our Eagles fly
Fly Eagles Fly
On the road to victory.
E-A-G-L-E-S! EAGLES!

The Eagles fight song is an indelible part of Tom Brookshier's life. His No. 40 jersey was retired to show how much he meant to the Eagles organization.

Tom Brookshier was a promising defensive back out of Rosewall High and the University of Colorado. The Philadelphia Eagles drafted him in 1953. After military service took him away in 1954-55, Brookshier was back in the Eagles' uniform when the NFL tide turned in New York's favor. The archrival Giants won the NFL Championship of 1956, which did not sit well in Philly.

Brookshier, along with linebacker Chuck Bednarik and quarterback Norm Van Brocklin, got their revenge in 1960. The Eagles won the NFL Championship over Green Bay 17-13. Philly sought to repeat in 1961, but in the eighth game, Brookshier suffered a broken leg, ending his playing career.

Tom Brookshier's second act was his broadcasting career. It started in 1962, when he, along with Frank Gifford, joined the staff at CBS Sports. Throughout the 1960s, CBS brought innovation to football coverage, benefiting from a league-wide contract they had signed years earlier with NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle.

Brookshier seemed to be in the booth for all the big games, especially "The Ice Bowl" between Green Bay and Dallas for the 1967 NFL Championship. But he was still devoted to the Eagles' cause. Once, when the 1969 World Series forced an Eagles-Colts game in Baltimore to be delayed one day, Brookshier and Al Meltzer covered the game for a then-independent WPHL in Philadelphia. And WPHL got big ratings that night.

The year 1970 brought about the NFL-AFL merger. It also united Tom Brookshier with a former on-field rival: ex-New York Giants kicker Pat Summerall. They began co-hosting This Week in Pro Football in 1970. Brookshier and Summerall later teamed up for CBS's NFL telecasts. They lived it up, on-screen as well as off.

Tom and Pat's last joint venture for CBS was the 1980 NFC Championship game, played January 11, 1981, in (fittingly) Philadelphia. When the Eagles defeated the Cowboys 20-7, Tom Brookshier's career seemed to come full circle.

Summerall earned a new partner the next season in John Madden. Brookshier would continue with CBS for seven years. But the friendship between Pat and Tom never waivered.

Summerall would later describe Brookshier as the brother he never had. It proved its weight in 1992, when Tom and others "tricked" Summerall to fly to the Betty Ford Center to combat Summerall's drinking problem. The way Pat turned around his life after that, helped Brookshier curb his old ways as well.

Tom Brookshier is recognized for his on-air work by Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia.… Expand