The Professional Hockey Writers Association is saddened to learn of the death of longtime New York Post columnist and Elmer Ferguson Award winner Larry Brooks at the age of 75 after a brief battle with cancer.
Brooks was a fixture in the hockey community in various roles for nearly a half-century, covering the New York Rangers and Islanders and working for the Devils in public relations and broadcasting. His columns were must-read material, and his presence in the press box and media workrooms all over the sport made you realize it was a big event.
On behalf of the entire organization, we offer our condolences to his family, friends, colleagues and coworkers.
– PHWA president Stephen Whyno
Here is a link to his obituary in the New York Post, written by Mike Vaccaro, and to PHWA executive vice president and New York Post Rangers co-beat writer Mollie Walker’s appreciation.
Here are some of the many remembrances of “Brooksie” from some of the people who worked alongside him over the decades:
Remembering Larry Brooks
“Larry Brooks is not just the greatest hockey writer of his generation, he’s the single-most consequential hockey reporter of the internet age. That he was also a star long before the internet, and a bigger name than many of the players he covered, speaks to the magnitude of his impact in the sport. Larry questioned everything – in the way that every true ‘capital J’ journalist should. He was as tough as he was fearless. That made for some legendary battles along the way, but Larry always showed up to the rink with a handshake and never a grudge, ready for the next story.”
– Former PHWA president Frank Seravalli
“Some of my earliest memories as a hockey writer in the mid-to late-’90s are from that old lower bowl corner press box and tiny press room at Madison Square Garden. I used to always look at ‘Brooksie’ hunting and pecking away on that keyboard of his, thumbing through that notebook of his and always wondering what exactly was in there. The next day I couldn’t wait to grab a New York Post to find out.
Nobody covered hockey like Larry. He knew all, he broke all news, he was gritty, he held those he covered accountable and always had the guts to show up the next day regardless of what he wrote. There was nothing like watching Larry at a press conference pepper Gary Bettman with questions. There was nothing like watching Larry quarrel at a PHWA meeting. He was the one Sunday column you rushed to read bright and early each Sunday morning.
And if you were lucky enough to be in his circle, he treated you like gold and had a heart of gold. There was always something special about the old guard of hockey writers — Larry Brooks, Jim Kelley, Dave Fay, Red Fisher, Michael Farber, Jim Matheson, Eric Duhatschek and so many others — and how they treated the new guard. They took care of us, looked after us and mentored us because they wanted to ensure this great sport they loved was covered with respect and passion for generations to come.
As cutthroat and competitive as Larry was, I’ll remember his smile, his laugh when you got him to let his guard down and the respect he commanded from everyone in hockey writing and inside the Rangers, all 32 teams and league office – even those who didn’t particularly love his writing and reporting. The one thing you could never question was his love and passion for hockey and his tireless effort telling its stories.
– Michael Russo, PHWA executive vice president and hockey writer at The Athletic
“There was nobody who commanded more respect in a locker room than Larry Brooks. Both players and the media knew that when Larry wrote something, it would be tough, fair, and exactly as he saw it. He lived with steadfast principles and authenticity that I hope younger generations strive to emulate.
What I think most people didn’t see: the softer side of Larry. That was true too. He cherished mentorship, and was especially encouraging to young women who were trying to navigate the industry. Larry reached out to me several times throughout my career. I’ll think about those conversations often, and how grateful I am to have overlapped with a true original.”
– Emily Kaplan, PHWA executive vice president and ESPN hockey writer
“As much as Larry will be remembered for standing his ground and making his opinions heard, it shouldn’t be lost on anyone that he also covered our sport with a great deal of humanity. You could tell that he cared deeply about the players he wrote about. Even when he challenged the league, the Rangers or some of the decision-makers employed by either, it almost always came from a principled position. Larry was an absolute lion of our industry. He was must-read, always, and remained that way right up until he filed his last column. There isn’t a hockey writer out there that doesn’t wish they could create a legacy as big as his.”
– Chris Johnston, PHWA executive vice president and hockey writer for The Athletic
“Larry was a larger-than-life presence on the Rangers beat. He was a reporter through and through, which made his weekly column all the more relevant. He was fearless, unapologetic, and a mentor to a couple of generations of young hockey scribes. The modern history of the Rangers was written by him. He was a giant.”
– Rob Rossi, The Athletic and longtime PHWA executive
“I was simply going to say that Larry was the best at what he did and leave it at that.
“But that does not begin to do him or his career/life justice because, honestly, he was the only one who did what he did.
“‘Brooksie’ was the quintessential five-tool hockey writer whose talent and versatility were unparalleled.
“I would put him in the pantheon of greatest game story writers alongside Red Fisher and Jason Botchford and, working at The Post, he had to do it in a lot fewer words.
“His Sunday Slap Shots was the gold standard for an NHL notes column — pointed, informative, irreverent and poignant — which was no mean feat in the internet era where so many weekly notes columns went to die.
“Larry (The Post has learned…) could break news with the best of them. He was incisive and plugged in.
“He was also hockey media’s biggest power hitter. He was fearless. His columns and takedowns were often epic and not only could he wield the flame thrower, he could take the white hot heat, too.
“But for all of that there was often a real humanity to him and his work, a lot of warmth, understanding and empathy.
“As an old-school hockey writer, Larry Brooks was the total package.
“When Larry congratulated me after I received the Elmer Ferguson Award in 2015, I must admit I was a little sheepish because he had not yet received it. I told him exactly that and, thankfully, in 2017 that situation was rectified.
“Back in the old days, Larry and I occasionally sparred, especially during NHL lockouts (there was no shortage of those) but in the last decade or so we became pen pals of sorts. Just two older guys sharing an age/stage of our professional lives and enjoying the setting sun. He was nothing if not kind and caring.
“The love he had for his family shone brightest, beyond all else, and my deepest condolences go out to them at this time of loss.
“Larry Brooks really was one of a kind.”
– Longtime hockey writer and 2015 Elmer Ferguson Award winner Bob McKenzie
“Larry was incredibly generous with his time when I was a just-out-of-school reporter assigned to cover hockey in the country’s toughest media market. Whether it was watching Rangers practice at Rye Playland or sitting next to him in the old press box at Madison Square Garden, I had so many questions. ‘Brooksie’ would patiently answer each one, no matter how elementary. I learned a lot from our chats. I learned even more from studying him as he worked a locker room. One of the best to ever do it. RIP, old friend.”
– Former New York Times hockey writer Tarik El-Bashir
“When I moved to New York midway through the 2023-24 season, I already knew Larry Brooks was a giant on the Rangers’ beat. What stood out upon my arrival was how warm he was to me. I loved chatting with him in the press box or on the road and listening to the stories he accumulated from decades on the job (and there were plenty of good ones!). We shared a passion for baseball, and we, along with fellow writers Mollie Walker and Vince Mercogliano, went to a Durham Bulls AAA game together during the 2024 Rangers-Hurricanes playoff series. It was such a great night — one in which we were all together as people, not just sports writers — and is one of my memories with Larry that I’ll cherish most. I will always appreciate his kindness to me and will miss seeing him around the rink, and I’m sending my love to those who knew him best.
– Peter Baugh, Rangers writer at The Athletic
“Larry loved hockey, and loved reporters, and spent his career defending both with unapologetic pugnaciousness. I once tried to make the point with him that hockey was great fun to watch but perhaps too subject to random bounces of vulcanized rubber to be made proper sense of by journalists like us. That did not go over well. The next hour at a bar in Pittsburgh was spent with him talking and me listening about winners and losers deserving what they got. As for reporters, he made it clear neither he nor by extension any of the rest of us were to be messed with. I still have an audio recording of a crowded postgame playoffs Rangers locker room in which a national TV camera operator made the mistake of trying to get between Larry and Henrik Lundqvist. Let’s just say that Larry would not be moved!”
– Newsday sports reporter and columnist Neil Best
“Larry taught us all the value of working the rest of the dressing room, and not just the scrums. He spoke truth to power better than any of us, and in those legendary stand-offs with John Tortorella, he stood up not just for himself, but for all of us.
When I was PHWA present president I had the honour of informing him he had won the Elmer Ferguson Award and was going into the hall. When he choked up, I thought, ‘How can this come as a surprise to a guy as accomplished as Larry?”
But it did, because deep down he was always just a hockey beat writer. One of the best that ever typed in a lede.”
-Former PHWA president and Sportsnet columnist Mark Spector
“Larry was a tough competitor with a good heart, a person who stood up to bullies and who was unafraid to tell it as he saw it. He was a classic, old-style journalist: he developed and nurtured sources and was a tireless reporter. We go way back, to my days at Newsday. Always enjoyed seeing him at hockey games, and, during the summer, at occasional baseball games. Condolences to his family. Rest well, old friend.”
– Helene Elliott, longtime hockey writer, former PHWA president and 2005 Elmer Ferguson Award winner
“Sometimes forgotten is the beat-redefining job he did covering the Islanders in the 1970s, inside the team, and during his return, from 1994-96, covering the Devils. As Devils VP of PR, he was relentless in getting information and access to the press.
“That mission continued through his PHWA presidency, when he fought to gain postgame player lounge access, which made everything better, since, if players couldn’t avoid the press there, they’d be just as likely to hang in the locker room. Access was everywhere except the medical room, far more informal and useful than before or after.
“And how he watched a game, seeing all, seeing odd quirks, and getting riled up by foul play. That was when you saw his passion for the game. We all know how he wrote, what he wrote, we all read him. But his reporting mastery was only part of what he was to our sport.
“Hockey was lucky to have him.”
– Retired hockey writer Mark Everson
“Larry Brooks was the straw that stirred the drink with his coverage of the New York Rangers and the National Hockey League. I’m sure, more than once, he made the people he covered find it hard to swallow after reading his analysis.
“His references to “Sixth Avenue” to describe the home of the NHL’s headquarters always made me smile.
“Watching Larry work the Rangers’ dressing room was something to behold. You could tell there was mutual respect between the players and the reporter. During the 2017 playoff series between the Senators and Rangers, I watched from across the room as he sat down with Henrik Lundqvist for a lengthy conversation.
“He was a must-read every day, but especially on Sundays. In the old days, when there was no internet, if you had a chance to pick up the New York Post on a Sunday, it was something you had to do. He’ll be deeply missed. My condolences to his family and friends.”
– Bruce Garrioch, Postmedia Ottawa hockey columnist
“I woke up around 7 a.m. to a text message from an old co-worker from my TV days with the news. ‘He was always nice to me,’ part of the text read. And that’s the truth. Yes, he was gruff and relentless when it came to covering hockey but there was a wonderful soft side to Larry. As someone who grew up devouring hockey as a kid in Brooklyn, my must-reads on a daily basis before the school bus came — with the newspaper print getting my hands all black with ink — included Larry Brooks. As I got older, I worked with his son Jordan, who was always in the Capitals press box the year I worked for the organization, and we often spoke of his dad. When I finally met Larry, while working in the New York media, I called my dad to let him know and he was jealous. In our house Larry Brooks was a legend, and his coverage of hockey played an integral role in developing my love for the game, where often I would show my dad something in the ‘Slap Shots’ column Larry posted every week and we’d discuss. Over the years Larry and I would occasionally chat — yes, after I moved to Philly to cover the Flyers, we sat in the bowels of, what was then the Wells Fargo Center one day and spoke about John Tortorella, who was then the Flyers coach — and every time I tried to conceal how excited and enamored I was to be in his presence. It was the same watching him and Mollie work together and talk hockey, especially sitting next to them at 4 Nations in February. They are two peas in a pod and I know she will carry on his work to the highest degree. The game of hockey and the city of New York lost an absolute legend on Thursday. He truly was a hall of famer. Sending my deepest condolences to his son Jordan and the family, Mollie, and the hockey world. May his memory be a blessing. He will be missed.”
– Philadelphia Inquirer Flyers writer Jackie Spiegel
“Larry was kind and one of a kind.
“I was privileged to have my MSG press box seat next to his for many seasons and we shared countless stories about Ranger eras of yesteryear. Larry was the go-to for any questions about Harry Howell, Andy Bathgate and the GAG line. Not to mention the Old Garden where the Rangers played until early 1968 – well before my time.
“As native New Yorkers, we appreciated Ranger lineage through the decades and I will truly miss those conversations. Beyond hockey, we discovered common bonds with our love of dogs and the arduous high school journey we each experienced at our respective math/science pressure-cookers (Bronx Science for Larry, Stuyvesant for me.)
“We also shared links with the dynasty Islanders and the colorful personalities on those winning early ’80s squads. Larry had covered the ’70s Islanders and had countless vignettes in his memory bank from that time in his career. He was all about relationships and the human side of players and their families.
“I will always remember his stunned joy when HIS family surprised him in the Garden press box during a November 2018 game in honor of his Hall of Fame induction. As my New York Times spot was adjacent to his, I was able to snap a few photos of Larry and his thrilled special guests, grandkids included!
“Larry loved the pictures – especially grateful I was in the right place at the right time. I am forever grateful that we were friends.”
– Longtime New York area hockey writer Allan Kreda
“Larry was a giant in our business of writing about the great sport of hockey, and although we frequently saw things differently politically, I had the greatest respect for the man and the way he went about his profession.
“You simply couldn’t miss an issue of Slap Shots even out here in Vancouver, as he was always addressing issues which affected the whole league, its players and club and league managements alike, even though he concentrated on the Rangers. Having known Larry a long time and having been to his house and met his family, it’s a tough blow but I suspect he’s in a better place now where every story is a great one.”
– Retired Vancouver hockey writer Tony Gallagher
“As the Bruins struggled out of the 2004-05 lockout, Boston’s one sports-radio station mocked any hockey callers, opening the door for a small radio show put on by the New England Hockey Journal that was dedicated to Bruins talk. My co-host (and Boston Globe hockey writer) Kevin Paul Dupont asked Larry to join us in studio, where he talked about growing up in the old Madison Square Garden and watching the Bruins-Rangers rivalry grow from an annual battle for fifth place to a battle for supremacy in the sport. Larry’s ability and willingness to share those memories gave us the best segment in the show’s history and myself a whole different perspective to appreciate him as the great fan of the game that he was.
“RIP Brooksie.”
– Longtime Boston hockey writer Mick Colageo
“Larry Brooks, a Hockey Hall of Fame Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award recipient, will long be remembered in the hockey world for his insightful analysis not only of the New York Rangers but the entire NHL, both on and off the ice. Larry’s love of hockey was evident in his writing at the New York Post in two stints over nearly four decades. Larry didn’t pull punches and when you read his work, you always knew where he stood. He was a staunch advocate for the players and for the reporters who cover the game.
“Larry also worked for a decade with the New Jersey Devils as a communications executive, drawing himself even closer to the game he dedicated his life to. On behalf of the National Hockey League, we mourn Larry’s passing, and extend our sincere condolences to his son Jordan, daughter-in-law Joanna, his grandchildren, and all of his colleagues at the New York Post.”
– NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman
“A legend in both the journalism and hockey worlds, Larry’s reporting was always respectful, fair and essential reading for Islanders fans. He chronicled the team through its iconic 1980s dynasty and beyond, giving fans unparalleled insight into their favorite team. His commitment to telling honest, meaningful stories earned the trust of players and the admiration of our entire community. Larry was a Hall of Famer in every sense and will be greatly missed.”
– New York Islanders
“The New Jersey Devils remember Larry Brooks, New York Post columnist and former VP of Communications for the team. His coverage of hockey in the metro area was must read for every fan and those in the industry, while his impact in the media space was influential to the growth of the game he loved. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends during this difficult time.”
– New Jersey Devils
“The entire Rangers organization mourns the loss of Larry Brooks, a titan in hockey journalism for nearly five decades. His coverage of the sport, the NHL and the Rangers in particular for the New York Post helped connect our fans with the team and game they love.”
– New York Rangers
“Larry brought our game to readers for nearly 40 years, writing with a sense of honesty and passion that will never be replicated. His dedicated coverage of the New York Rangers and the NHL propelled him to icon status.”
– NHL Alumni Association
“Throughout my career he was always there, asking questions. I had many conversations with Larry Brooks, almost daily about my game, the Rangers and the game as a whole. I respected his knowledge a ton. Thank you Larry for your commitment to the game, you will be missed. RIP”
– Hall of Fame goaltender Henrik Lundqvist
“Larry Brooks was synonymous with the New York Rangers. From the articles to the legendary YouTube videos I watched growing up, nobody covered hockey like him. It never seemed possible that he wouldn’t be around forever. As my 6 years in New York went on, I was lucky to be on Brooksie’s “good side.” He was always in my corner, and I looked forward to our informal post practice talks — about the state of our team, the state of the league, college hockey, and family (especially watching his grandson play hockey). He was a legend and one of one. Rest in peace, my friend.
– Longtime NHL player Jimmy Vesey
