When you talk about East Tennessee State University basketball, one name must be at the top of your list: J. Madison Brooks. For twenty-five years, from 1948 until 1973, Brooks was at the helm of the Buccaneers cagers, compiling an impressive 370-265 career record. It all began for Brooks at Oak Grove High School and continued through a football, basketball, and baseball career at Louisiana Tech. At Oak Grove, he was an all-state center in football and president of his senior class. At Louisiana Tech he played football, basketball, and baseball; captained the football and basketball teams in his senior year; and was All-SIAA in both sports. After graduation in 1936, Brooks coached on the high school level for nine seasons before arriving at ETSU. The Buccaneers won at least twenty games five times, captured seven conference championships, and advanced to the NCAA or NAIA tournaments six times. Not surprisingly, Brooks was named conference coach of the year seven times. But it was his quality of character that truly shined. “I’m the better man because I got to play for him,” said Willie Malone, who studied under Brooks in the early 1960s. “He was so fair, so honest.” Brooks passed away in 1994 at the age of seventy-nine. The powerful impact he had on ETSU and the lives of so many young men is his legacy.
