Dec. 2, 2016
THE FLATS – Former Georgia Tech football star Keith Brooking is among five standouts from the athletics industry that have been selected for induction to the Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame in 2017, the Hall announced on Friday.
Brooking played linebacker at Georgia Tech from 1994-97 and remains the leading tackler in program history with 467 career stops. The Sharpsburg, Ga. native also owns the sixth- and seventh-highest single-season tackle totals in Tech history with 147 as a junior in 1996 and 146 as a sophomore in 1995. He led the Yellow Jackets in tackles in each of his final three seasons and made 34-consecutive starts to close out his collegiate career.
He was selected by the Atlanta Falcons with the 12th overall pick in the 1998 National Football League Draft and became a fixture on the Falcons’ defense for 11 seasons. Brooking helped lead the Falcons to the only Super Bowl appearance in franchise history as a rookie in 1998, appeared in five Pro Bowls and was named one of the 20 best players in team history by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He capped his 15-year professional career with the Dallas Cowboys (2009-11) and Denver Broncos (2012) and finished with 1,434 tackles in 225 NFL games.
Brooking is one of five members of the Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2017, joining Julia Emmons (22-year director of the Atlanta Track Club and Director of the Peachtree Road Race), Steve Holman (the longtime radio voice of the Atlanta Hawks), Bob Reinhart (former basketball coach for Decatur High School, Georgia State and the Hawks) and Craig Sager (nationally renowned sports broadcaster, most notable for the NBA on TNT). They will be officially inducted during the Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame’s 13th-annual awards and induction ceremony on Friday, Feb. 17 at Buckhead Theater.
In addition to his election to the Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame, Brooking will also be inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in February. The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2017 also includes former Georgia Tech men’s basketball star Matt Harpring, football standouts Willie Gault, Garrison Hearst and Jeff Saturday, golfer Laura Coble, athletics director/golf coach Liz Murphey and tennis coach Manuel Diaz.
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