James Brooks is a retired NFL

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

 football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 running back

Running back

A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...

.

High school and college career

His young career started with success in elementary school. He led the Warner Robins High School

Warner Robins High School

Warner Robins High School is a high school in Warner Robins, Georgia. It is located at 401 South Davis Drive.-Campus:In 2005, the nearby Bert Rumble Middle School was merged with WRHS as Rumble Academy, with most of its former faculty and students moved to the nearby Huntington Middle School...

 Demons to a State championship and a National Championship ranking in 1976. He left Warner Robins High with the school record for rushing, a record that stood until Willie Reid

Willie Reid

Willie Louis Reid is an American football wide receiver who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round of the 2006 NFL Draft...

 (a FSU

Florida State University

The Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...

 stand-out) broke his record during his Warner Robins career. He played collegiately

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 at Auburn University

Auburn University

Auburn University is a public university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 25,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the largest universities in the state. Auburn was chartered on February 7, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts...

 from 1977–1980 and earned All-American status along with future NFL backs William Andrews

William Andrews (American football player)

William Andrews is a former NFL football running back. He played collegiately at Auburn University along with future NFL backs James Brooks and Joe Cribbs....

 and Joe Cribbs

Joe Cribbs

Joe Stanier Cribbs is a retired National Football League and United States Football League football running back. He played collegiately at Auburn University along with future NFL backs William Andrews and James Brooks...

, where he set school records for kickoff return yards (1,726) and all-purpose yards

All-purpose yardage

All-purpose yards or All-purpose yardage is an American football and Canadian football statistical measure. It is virtually the same as the statistic that some football leagues refer to as combined net yards. In the game of football, progress is measured by advancing the football towards the...

 (5,596), while also scoring 30 touchdown

Touchdown

A touchdown is a means of scoring in American and Canadian football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone.-Description:...

s.

Professional career

Brooks played professionally with the San Diego Chargers

San Diego Chargers

The San Diego Chargers are a professional American football team based in San Diego, California. they were members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 (1981–1983), the Cincinnati Bengals

Cincinnati Bengals

The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional football team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the AFC's North Division in the National Football League . The Bengals began play in 1968 as an expansion team in the American Football League , and joined the NFL in 1970 in the AFL-NFL...

 (1984–1991), the Cleveland Browns

Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 (1992), and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football franchise based in Tampa, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the Southern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League – they are the only team in the division not to come from the old NFC West...

 (1992).

A four-time Pro Bowl

Pro Bowl

In professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game of the National Football League . Since the merger with the rival American Football League in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference against those...

er (1986, 1988–1990), Brooks excelled at running, receiving, and kick returning. By the time he left the Bengals in 1991, he was the team's all time leading rusher with 6,447 yards (he has since been surpassed by Corey Dillon

Corey Dillon

Corey James Dillon is a former American football running back. He played his ten-season career for the Cincinnati Bengals and the New England Patriots, wearing jersey number 28 for both teams. Dillon played college football the University of Washington where he wore the number 4.-High school...

's 8,061 yards), and is still among the Bengals top 15 all time leading receivers with 297 receptions

Reception (American football)

In American football, a reception is part of a play in which a forward pass from behind the line of scrimmage is received by a player in bounds, who, after the catch, proceeds to either score a touchdown or be downed. Yards gained from the receiving play are credited to the player as receiving...

 for 3,012 yards. By the time of his retirement after the 1993 season, Brooks amassed 7,962 rushing yards, 383 receptions for 3,621 receiving yards, 565 punt return yards, 2,762 kickoff return yards, and scored 79 touchdowns (49 rushing and 30 receiving). As of 2006, Brooks' 14,910 total net yards ranks him #21 on the NFL's list of career total net yard leaders.

His most memorable run happened in a December 7, 1986 game against the New England Patriots

New England Patriots

The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...

. In that play, Brooks made several cutbacks, broke several tackles

Tackle (football move)

Most forms of football have a move known as a tackle. The primary purposes of tackling is to disposses an opponent of the ball, to stop the player from gaining ground towards goal or to stop them from carrying out what they intend....

 and dragged the final 5 yards across the goal line

Goal line

The goal line is the chalked or painted line dividing the end zone from the field of play in American football and Canadian football. It is the line that must be crossed in order to score a touchdown...

 for a 56-yard touchdown run for the Bengals.

Brooks made a Super Bowl

Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...

 appearance with the Bengals in Super Bowl XXIII

Super Bowl XXIII

Super Bowl XXIII was an American football game played on January 22, 1989 at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami, Florida to decide the National Football League champion following the 1988 regular season. This was the first Super Bowl hosted in the Miami area in 10 years, and the first in Miami not held...

. He also was a key participant in 2 of the most famous games in NFL Lore during his rookie

Rookie

Rookie is a term for a person who is in his or her first year of play of their sport or has little or no professional experience. The term also has the more general meaning of anyone new to a profession, training or activity Rookie is a term for a person who is in his or her first year of play of...

 season with the Chargers: The Epic in Miami

The Epic in Miami

The Epic in Miami is the name given to a National Football League AFC divisional playoff game between the San Diego Chargers and the Miami Dolphins that took place on January 2, 1982 in the Miami Orange Bowl...

, and the Freezer Bowl

Freezer Bowl

In NFL lore, the Freezer Bowl was the 1981 AFC Championship Game between the San Diego Chargers and the Cincinnati Bengals. The game was played in the coldest temperature in NFL history in terms of wind chill...

.

Brooks was arrested in 1999 for failure to pay child support

Child support

In family law and public policy, child support is an ongoing, periodic payment made by a parent for the financial benefit of a child following the end of a marriage or other relationship...

, owing over $100,000. He served three months of a six months sentence before being assigned to a work release program. He now works at the Walton Kentucky location of GSI Commerce as a warehouse associate.