Larry Brooks didn’t must go to a Florida Panthers off-day follow. Neither did I.
Ready.
Till that deep voice with an unmistakable accent bellowed.
“LAH-dee!”
And Jaromir Jagr — ‘The Great Jagr’ or ‘Yahgs,’ as Larry referred to as him — strode out from a again room in a black T-shirt and denims.
Jagr, an all-time nice nonetheless enjoying at age 43, answered to nobody. He had walked into that room for one purpose solely: as a result of Larry was in it.
So Larry simply may have — ought to have — used that relationship and entry to conduct one in every of his well-known one-on-one interviews and craft an unique story for Saturday’s Submit.
However that’s not what Larry did.
As a substitute, Larry launched me to Jagr, advised him he may belief me and welcomed me right into a 10-minute dialog that was half interview, half catch-up with a legend of the sport.
New York Submit author Larry Brooks walks the pink carpet after receiving the Elmer Ferguson Award previous to the 2018 induction ceremony on the Hockey Corridor Of Fame on November 12, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Picture by Bruce Bennett/Getty Photographs)
And I walked exterior into the Florida sunshine realizing that I didn’t simply cowl the legends of hockey; I labored alongside one in every of them.
‘Brooksie,’ as he was recognized in rinks throughout North America, who had dubbed Henrik Lundqvist ‘The King’ as a younger Ranger, was a king himself.
He was the primary individual I ever heard confer with Wayne Gretzky as “Wayne.”
Lundqvist appeared upon Larry throughout their many conversations not as an inquiring reporter however as a revered peer, as if the goalie have been ready to be taught as a lot from Brooksie as Larry would from him.
However Larry was much more than a Hockey Corridor of Famer, inducted in 2018.
What made him nice to me was his half in our distinctive friendship, our human connection that crossed the boundaries of New York’s ‘tabloid wars,’ his capacity to kick my butt as opponents in the course of the day after which share his life and classes with me over a glass of wine at night time.
Former Rangers coach John Tortorella stated Thursday that he revered how Larry at all times confirmed up day by day, able to reply to what he’d written the day earlier than and able to preserve engaged on the following story.
In different phrases, Larry cared.
And that’s what folks ought to find out about what made Larry nice as an individual and an expert: He cared. Deeply.
About hockey. About high quality of labor. And concerning the individuals who mattered to him.
That could be a contagious high quality, caring. It confirmed up with Brooksie in numerous other ways.
Proper up till he handed Thursday at age 75 after a battle with most cancers, Larry’s favourite inside joke with me was a reference to a scene out of the Rangers’ 2011-12 locker room.
It was my first season masking the NHL, and Rangers ahead Ruslan Fedotenko was attempting to clarify to me that the workforce had allowed one aim as a result of they didn’t have a “third man high” within the offensive zone.
I grew up primarily learning the X’s and O’s of basketball, not hockey. So after I requested Fedotenko to elaborate, the winger may see my confusion and yelled out in high-pitched disbelief: “You don’t see?!”
It was a favourite reminiscence of ours as a result of it revealed how inexperienced I used to be as a rookie on the beat and, frankly, as a result of it made Larry giggle hysterically each time we introduced it again up.
At a special level in Larry’s profession, he had been far more ruthless and relentless in his competitors with rival papers. However after I arrived — and after I proved that I cared, too — he embraced me as an surprising and keen mentor.
And what that meant was that I had the privilege of sitting throughout from Larry at dinner two to 3 occasions per week and listening.
He would speak about his reverence for Mike Bossy and the Islanders dynasty, his distinctive experiences with Devils greats Martin Brodeur and Scott Stevens, his sturdy friendship with former Rangers agitator Sean Avery and his affinity for masking baseball a bit each offseason. He stated he favored writing about America’s Sport as a result of it required “a different rhythm” from the author’s thoughts and hand.
However he would actually mild up describing his grandson Scott’s early ardour for hockey, his granddaughter Reese and the joys of getting them in his life.
Throughout a kind of memorable meals, at our go-to spot Vallozzi’s in Pittsburgh, we unexpectedly veered off these matters as a result of Corridor of Fame baseball supervisor Jim Leyland and his spouse have been seated on the desk subsequent to us.
And there I used to be once more, not simply watching a dialog between two legends however having one with them.
As a result of Larry was there.
I’m proud to say that, in my view at the least, I did my greatest to be taught from Larry and to let him know the way a lot I revered and appreciated him.
He spoke reality to energy and labored to carry folks or organizations accountable once they deserved it, particularly the NHL in his iconic weekly ‘Slapshots’ column.
He was not solely keen however desperate to be the one voice on one aspect of a difficulty if he knew he was proper. Even when the noise round him was loud.
He confirmed up day by day, particularly after he had written one thing important or scathing, to reply to the fallout or the blowback.
He spoke for the gamers. He labored arduous at reporting in order that any column or opinion was backed by data.
He didn’t use a recorder or a digicam on his cellphone to tape interviews. He talked to folks nose to nose like human beings.
He had enjoyable along with his prose, like his playful “Did you see Chris?” line about Rangers goalscorer Chris Kreider’s twin capacity to each flash and dim.
He did his personal work. He thought for himself.
And Larry’s presence and affect have been so constant, he gave each empty rink he walked right into a heartbeat.
Once they construct a statue of him someplace inside Madison Sq. Backyard someday, they need to memorialize Larry in his trademark pose:
Sitting beside a participant at his locker along with his head down, taking notes in shorthand into his pocket book with a slight smirk.
The smirk as a result of Larry cherished what he was doing and possibly knew one thing everybody else didn’t.
The notetaking due to how deeply Larry at all times stayed grounded within the work.
The shut proximity to the participant due to how a lot Larry cared concerning the individual subsequent to him.
“You don’t see?!”
We see, Larry. All of us see.
Relaxation in peace to The Nice One. The Nice Brooksie. The King.
