Rockdale's Brooks keeping alive family track tradition

Daniel Brooks is fast but never furious.

How could he be? His work is paying off.

In the spring semester of his junior year at Rockdale High School, Brooks has made a football commitment to Oklahoma. He has also put himself on a path to an unprecedented track accomplishment.

Hillsboro's Earl C. "Mule" Frazier won the Class A 100 yards, the 120-yard hurdles and the 220-yard hurdles in 1918 at the state track meet. Since then, no other athlete has ever matched the feat.

Brooks has a chance to do something very similar.

Brooks has run the unusual combination of the 110-meter high hurdles and the 100 all season, but when he won both at the Texas Relays two weeks ago, it turned heads. He won the 110 hurdles in 14.00 seconds and added the 100 championship by running 10.72.

Brooks also runs the 300 hurdles and has advanced to regionals in all three events.

"We were confident in the hurdles, and weren't really stressing over that," Brooks said. "My Dad really wanted me to win the 100. With our family, since we run the hurdles, they think we're not sprinters. It showed we're not just hurdlers. We can run, too, and do it well."

The 110 hurdles and 100 are run back-to-back at UIL events, but that seems to have little effect on Brooks.

"Daniel is such a great athlete, and he's so in shape," Rockdale track coach Jim Kerbow said. "As soon as football is over, he's working on his hurdles. He didn't really have that much turnaround time at the Texas Relays, maybe 30 to 45 minutes."

Brooks' attitude might account for his ability to handle back-to-back events.

"I think it's the drive I have and the heart," Brooks said in a matter-of fact way. "The determination I have to be the best is why I think I can do it. I give 100 percent at whatever I do. If the coach wants me to put a new roof on this building right here, I'm the first one to do it."

Kerbow doesn't doubt it.

"He's a really neat kid who does whatever you ask," Kerbow said. "He's a yes sir and no sir kind of guy. So far, he's been pretty humble about all of the attention. He doesn't let it go to his head and continues to work hard."

Brooks won five events at the District 23-3A meet in Giddings last week. He won the long jump (22 feet) and triple jump (42-4 1/2) while sweeping his trio of track specialties, winning the 110 hurdles in 14.43, the 100 in 10.95 and the 300 hurdles in 38.94.

He will compete in four of the events at the Class 3A Region III meet in Humble on May 2-3, dropping the triple jump from his repertoire.

"My farthest in the long jump is 23-5, and I'm a little more confident in the long jump than the triple jump," Brooks said. "I'll have to work on that. It's a more technical event. I'm really confident in my hurdles."

The Tigers are competing Thursday at Brenham's regional qualifiers meet.

Since the 330-yard hurdles (now the 300-meter hurdles) became an event, no one has ever won it, the 110 hurdles and the 100 at the UIL state meet. Winning both hurdle races is almost commonplace, but adding the 100 meters has set up a different kind of roadblock for Brooks, who not only knows about his father's athletic prowess, he embraces it.

Brooks wears a silver chain with his father's football number (33) on it. When he is playing football, Daniel wears No. 3.

"Thirty-three is my favorite number, but the jersey was too big," Brooks said. "I wanted to wear it in high school. They tried another jersey, but it keeps coming in too big."

The jersey may be big, but Brooks seems to be fitting nicely in his father's shoes. Tony Brooks set the still-standing Class 3A state record in the 300 hurdles in 1985 with a time of 36.44. Tony Brooks also won the 110 hurdles that year with the nation's second-fastest time of 13.5.

"That's what I'm shooting for, and he's pushing more to do it, too." Daniel Brooks said. "I know I can get it. I've been saying I was going to get it since I was a kid. As a young kid, you should strive for goals that you are going to beat, and I think that's what I've done. Pretty much everything that I've done this year, I said as a little kid that's what I wanted to do. But there's more to do."

Daniel is already in sight of Dad's record time, although official state records can only be set at the state meet. Great hurdlers, especially in the 300, tend to improve their times as the season progresses. The Texas Relays have already put Brooks on a well-lit stage, and stage fright is unlikely for a competitor inspired by the race, not intimidated by the crowd.

"I've never really cared about the stands," Brooks said. "The race never changes. It's going to be the same length. The hurdles are going to be the same height. You just run your race, although the Texas Relays is a way to get your name out there. That's a really big track meet that's lets you be known.

"But I'll run the regionals at the same speed, with the same heart and the same drive as I did the Texas Relays."

The Brooks family tradition runs much deeper than just the father-son combo.

Daniel Brooks' sister, Krysten, competed at state and has run track at Texas-Arlington. His uncle, Terry, was an All-American at Howard Payne. Uncle Donny won state in the 110 hurdles in 1987 and '88 and was also a winner at the Texas Relays. He went on to play football at Texas Tech and for the Chicago Bears.

Following in the footsteps of his father, who also played football at TCU, means wearing many shoes.

"For football, we put combat boots on and we run bleachers," Brooks said. "We run some 400s and sprints. They did that as kids, too. It really helps in football."

Brooks ran track his first varsity season as a sophomore, advancing to state in the 110 hurdles and finishing sixth in 15.24. It was a comeback season after breaking his leg as a freshman.

Kerbow doesn't think the broken leg was a factor last season.

"I just think he's growing up," said the Tigers' coach, who is the defensive coordinator during football season. "This is just a continuation of football. He was in such great shape when he showed up for two-a-days and he had such a great year, but he loves track. He works on his own up here seven days a week."

When Rockdale coach Jeff Miller announced that Brooks would become his "feature back" during football season, it was a role that he filled impressively, rushing for 1,708 yards and 20 touchdowns for the best rushing season in Rockdale history. Along the way, he moved past his father on the school's career rushing list.

Texas Tech has also offered him a scholarship and Oklahoma State is inching closer to doing so.

"TCU and Texas have shown me a lot of attention lately," said Brooks, who has been told by Oklahoma coaches that he can run track and play football.

He can see tie-ins to his track events.

"In hurdling, you have to be quick, have balance and athleticism," Brooks said. "It works on a lot of things and you have to have some athletic ability and I think it carries over into football, or whatever sport you do.

"Track for me carries over for everything in my football game. It works on my speed, my jumping, my strength. It helps with pretty much everything."