Johnny Brooks, former Havre de Grace, Aberdeen football and basketball coach, dies

The first stop many football players, basketball players and students made when arriving in the morning at Havre de Grace High School was Johnny Brooks’ classroom where he taught African American studies and social studies. Those who knew him said he made his classroom welcoming to anyone and everyone.

“We all used to hang inside and outside of his classroom, having conversations about everything going on – whether that was sports or news or what was happening at school or who was dating who,” said Brad M. Spence, a 1998 graduate who played for the Warriors football team. “His was the place to be, the hub of the school.”

Added Da’Saun Jones, a 2010 graduate: “He just had this aura around him. Everybody gravitated towards him. You wanted to have a conversation with him.”

News that Brooks, who coached the football and basketball teams at Havre de Grace and Aberdeen and was prepared to begin his first season at Joppatowne, died Wednesday spread quickly. Many of those fortunate to cross paths with The Sun’s All-Metro Football Coach of the Year in 2011 when he guided Aberdeen to the state Class 3A semifinals one season after taking Havre de Grace to the state Class 1A final, shared their condolences on social media and with others.

“I would say that there are thousands of former students and former players and former colleagues at Havre de Grace and Aberdeen who now carry on the work of what he did every day – the energy, the enthusiasm, the way of not taking yourself super seriously,” said Zack Tabor, a 2010 graduate of Havre de Grace. “… I carry him with me in a way that’s sometimes not conscious and sometimes it is.”

Brooks was a graduate of Havre de Grace, quarterbacking the 1981 squad to a Class C state championship in a 27-12 victory over Middletown under former coach Shawn Baker. Brooks continued his football career at Clemson University before transferring to Towson University as wide receiver for the 1986 season.

After graduation, Brooks returned to Havre de Grace in 1994 to teach and coach. The offensive coordinator under head coach Tom Marrone, Brooks was beloved by his players for developing a reputation as an imaginative play-caller.

“At the time in 90s, a lot of that wide-open passing offense wasn’t in vogue. But we threw it a lot,” said Spence, a vice principal at Havre de Grace who played center for Brooks. “We had a great quarterback, Billy Jackson, who ended up going and playing at Frostburg and become a coach himself, and we had great wide receivers, and we threw the ball all over the place, which was a little bit unusual for the time period. He would create plays during the game if he saw something on the field. It was actually a lot of fun to play for someone who was so creative right on the spot.”

Spence said Brooks also had a certain sartorial flair.

“You’re used to coaches wearing the school polo or jacket, but in 1995, 1996 and 1997, Johnny Brooks was on the sideline in Tommy Hilfiger from head to toe,” Spence said with a chuckle. “He was wearing Polo from head to toe. He had on nothing that said Havre de Grace, but he was just swagged out beyond belief. When I close my eyes and picture my senior year, I can see him coming out to the huddle looking like he was about to go out after the game.”

Sean Welsh switched from soccer to football for his senior year. He was struck by how much Brooks cared about his transition to punter and kicker.

“Coach Brooks told me, ‘Look, if you want to do this next season, let’s do it,’” said Welsh, a 2010 graduate who is the interim vice president of marketing and communications at Towson. “Before my senior season, he helped me get into this camp at one of the colleges in the area to learn from punters and kickers that were not only in college, but were former NFL players and coaches. He didn’t have to do it. He didn’t need to invest anything in me. I had never played for him before. I wasn’t his quarterback, I wasn’t a starting lineman. I was a kicker on a team with 25 kids. So why invest your time and energy? But he was someone that lifted up every single kid in the school whether you played for him or not.”

Jones, who was a 6-foot-1-inch, 150-pound forward on Brooks’ varsity basketball squads in 2008-09 and 2009-10, said Brooks was not shy about challenging his players and his students to improve themselves. He said he regretted ignoring Brooks’ encouragement to get stronger in the weight room before joining Division II Goldey-Beacom in Wilmington, Delaware, as a walk-on.

“That’s one thing that he always told me that I wish I had listened to sooner because when I started to listen to what he said, I was already in college,” said Jones, a business teacher at Aberdeen High School and assistant coach for the Harford Community College men’s basketball team. “He was trying to push me to get to that point mentally to where I could be prepared to be an athlete at the next level.”

In 2010, tragedy struck when Brooks’ son, Jovan, died in a car accident three days before he was to graduate from Havre de Grace. Welsh, who paid tribute to the younger Brooks on the 10-year anniversary of his passing, said the elder Brooks rarely talked about that traumatic event.

“Coach Brooks actually accepted his diploma at our graduation, and that’s the image of him that so many people from our school will remember,” Welsh said. “He was just this rock of a person in so many ways.”

Brooks’ AfricanAmerican studies course was a popular option for many students regardless of ethnicity and background. Jones recalled as many as 10 non-Black students in the course when he was enrolled, and Tabor credited the class with launching his career as an Arabic and history teacher at Delbarton School, a Catholic School in Morristown, New Jersey.

“I don’t know how much of that happens without that AfricanAmerican studies class,” Tabor said. “You don’t know how invaluable it was for me as a white kid to have an authority figure, a mentor, a person who would listen to me, and a second father figure. I’ve had conversations with other white kids that were influenced by Coach Brooks and people of color who were coached by Coach Brooks. … I see the difference, and I just can’t express how valuable that was in my ethical formation.”

Jones, who returned to Havre de Grace to coach the varsity basketball team from 2015-19, said he modeled his teams after Brooks’ squad, emphasizing pressure defense and fast-break points. Jones was planning to join Brooks in the business department at Aberdeen this fall.

“The classroom that I have is the classroom that he had last year,” Jones said. “So when I walk into the building and go into the room, I can feel some kind of connection with him that way. It’s definitely an honor to have H214 to try to continue everything that he started.”

Brooks was slated to coach the varsity football team at Joppatowne High School, which was scheduled to meet Havre de Grace Friday night. A short ceremony to honor his memory was expected to occur before the game.