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Iowa’s Sammy Brooks developed toughness with two older brothers
K.J. Pilcher
Jan. 19, 2017 8:28 pm, Updated: Jan. 20, 2017 1:04 am
IOWA CITY — Sammy Brooks had no choice but to be tough.
Listen to the Iowa senior talk about growing up with two older brothers, Max and Ben, and the reason is clear.
'Benny and I would go at it a lot,' Brooks said. 'I don't know if it was for the heck of it or because he was thinking about the future. I think it was more because he wanted to. We'd go at it a lot. It would end up with me trying to get Max to help me out. I got plenty of whoopings from them.'
Those brotherly battles helped prepare the youngest ascend the wrestling ranks and fill the role as the Hawkeyes' starting 184-pounder. The next challenge for fourth-ranked Brooks will be against No. 2 Bo Nickal when third-ranked Iowa hosts No. 2 Penn State Friday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The Brooks brothers all competed in college sports. Max Brooks was a defensive lineman for Illinois Wesleyan and Ben Brooks wrestled at North Carolina. Max is five years older, while Ben is three years older than the Hawkeye.
'We spent a lot of time together hanging out, playing video games or cards,' Sam Brooks said. 'We were always pretty close even if it did end up in fights a lot of times.'
Like many little brothers, most scuffles didn't go in his favor. He recalled one instance when he was sucker-punched while working on a desktop computer at home.
'Ben came out of nowhere and socked me right in the back of the head,' Sam Brooks said. 'My head bounced off the computer screen. There wasn't much I could do. I tried to get back at him however I could. He was always a lot bigger than me.'
Some of those conflicts came to a halt when their mother, Caryn Brooks, had to step in. At times, it accompanied a threat to get their father, Charles Brooks, involved.
'She went gray a little earlier than she should have, because of us,' Sam Brooks said with a laugh. 'She soldiered through it.'
The first time Brooks got the better of his brothers was in the wrestling room. During one of his first two seasons at national power Oak Park-River Forest, he took down Ben during practice. It didn't settle well with the older brother, but Sam proved something to himself.
'I got a takedown or something and he got up and was throwing punches. He was done wrestling,' said Sam Brooks, who began wrestling in grade school when he accompanied Max to a youth practice. 'I stood in there and was throwing them back. It was the first real even exchange, I think.'
For his feisty attitude on the mat, Brooks is just as fun off it. Take his post-match interview from the 2016 Big Ten Championships. On live television, he sat stone-faced as he referred to his mullet haircut in each answer, demonstrating his sense of humor.
'He's very laid back,' said Iowa 125-pounder Thomas Gilman, who is a roommate of Sam Brooks. 'He's very easy going. Nothing gets to Brooks. He rolls with the punches.'
Brooks can be an antagonist at times off the mat as well. He isn't above riling someone up for his own amusement. Gilman remembered when some teammates came over for the night. When a Kanye West song came on, he began a debate about the best performer of all time. Gilman said the discussion lasted until early in the morning.
'We were arguing against him and he was arguing for Kanye West,' Gilman said. 'He didn't really care anyway. He just wanted to get us fired up. We argued for hours.'
Brooks said he has learned to separate his mentality on the mat from that off it.
'When it's time to wrestle then maybe that instinct from my brothers when I was younger kicks in a little bit,' Brooks said. 'I think it's just the way I was brought up and the programs I've come through.'
Family remains an important part of Sam Brooks' life. The impact his brothers have had on him is apparent in the way he wrestles and the tribute he has to them. The tattoo inside the biceps of his left arm reads, 'Faste Without Fraude,' which is part of the Brooks family crest.
'There was definitely a lot of admiration from me, looking up to those two,' Sam Brooks said. 'I learned a lot from them.
'I always wanted to be better than them. ...
It was really good for me. It pushed me to work harder or make myself tougher however I could to prove to them.'
The mentality served him well in the Dan Gable Wrestling Complex. Iowa Coach Tom Brands said he learned early that the returning All-American (eighth at 184) and Big Ten champion was fine with a kick in the backside instead of a pat on the back for motivation.
'Full accountability on him,' Brands said. 'When there is a certain situation where he needed a boot up the butt (then) full compliance from him. You don't get that. That's a rare thing.'
According to Brands, he shares that trait with many of the best Hawkeye wrestlers. The intangibles were apparent from his first moments at Iowa.
'He's a competitor,' Brands said. 'He wants to be good. You can see it. I've seen it since he first got here.'
Brooks was third at the Big Ten Championships as a sophomore and has 90 career victories. He is 16-1 this season, including four pins, four technical falls and four major decisions. His lone loss came to Indiana's Nathan Jackson, which he avenged later in the same tournament to place third. He turned a two-point loss into a 10-5 victory.
'It's all about the process,' Brands said. 'You've seen his performance at Midlands when he came back from the Indiana match. He's going to have to wrestle like that.'
Brooks brings a seven-match win streak into the bout with Nickal, a returning national finalist. Brooks said he feels good and looks to build on the progress he has already made this season. The focus is to be more consistent, avoiding highs and lows in his performance, and a higher step at the NCAA tournament in March.
'I've been improving every time I go out,' Brooks said. 'In my mind, there's always something better I can do.'
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