Larry Brooks was among us.
Silence swept through a packed Madison Square Garden on Sunday night, as the Rangers paid tribute to the extraordinary life and career of The Post’s iconic and inimitable Hall of Fame hockey columnist in the team’s first home game since Brooks’ death Thursday morning, at 75, following a brief battle with cancer
In addition to honoring Brooks with pictures on the jumbotron and a moment of silence in recognition of the “titan in hockey journalism,” the Rangers also reserved a seat for him in the press box, decorating the desk with flowers and a framed photograph of the longtime Rangers reporter at his 2018 Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Brooks’ history with the Blueshirts dates back to his upbringing on the Upper West Side, as a second-generation fan who revered Rod Gilbert and fell in love with the game from the blue seats of the old Garden between 49th and 50th Streets. Beginning his first of two stints at The Post in 1975, he passionately documented the most important eras in Rangers history with an unparalleled eye for the sport, making a greater impact than most of the players he covered.
The Garden was his “temple,” his son, Jordan, said Sunday morning at a standing-room only funeral in Westchester. Family, friends, colleagues, competitors and hockey legends — including Henrik Lundqvist, Adam Graves, Chris Drury and Lou Lamoriello — paid their respects to the most respected hockey writer in the business at a service filled with laughter, tears and never-ending anecdotes.
If the universe is just, he watched it all from what his son described as his final resting place:
“The great press box in the sky.”
