Nathan Eugene Brooks (August 4, 1933 – April 14, 2020) was a

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

from the United States, who won the gold medal in the

flyweight Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing above 49 kg (108 lb) and up to 51 kg (112 lb). Professional boxing The flyweight division was the last of bo ...

division (– 51 kg) at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Early life

Brooks grew up in the Miles Heights neighborhood on the southeast side of Cleveland, Ohio. He was the 8th of 11 children of his parents, Frank and Mary Brooks. He graduated from John Adams High School.

Amateur career

Brooks had an outstanding career. Despit
losing
the National AAU flyweight crown in 1949 to Johnny Ortega, Brooks won titles at the Chicago Golden Gloves in 1950 and 1951. Brooks was the 1952 Olympic Flyweight Champion, defeating

Edgar Basel Edgar Basel (1 November 1930 in Mannheim — 7 September 1977) was a boxer from Germany, who won the silver medal in the flyweight division (– 51 kg) at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. Amateur career Basel had an outstanding ...

of West Germany in the final on a 3-0 decision.

Olympic results

Below is the Olympic record of Nate Brooks, an American flyweight boxer who competed at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics: *Round of 32: Defeated

Risto Luukkonen Risto Luukkonen (31 July 1931 – 12 August 1967) was a Finnish boxer. He competed in the men's flyweight event at the 1952 Summer Olympics. As a professional, he was the EBU's flyweight champion after defeating Spain's Young Martin Mar ...

(Finland) 3-0 *Round of 16: Defeated Alfred Zima (Austria) 3-0 *Quarterfinal: Defeated

Mircea Dobrescu Mircea Dobrescu (5 September 1930 – 6 August 2015) was a flyweight boxer from Romania. He competed at the 1952, 1956 and 1960 Olympics and won a silver medal in 1956, losing to Terence Spinks on points.Willie Toweel Willie Michael Toweel (6 April 1934 – 25 December 2017) was a Boxing, boxer from South Africa, who won the bronze medal in the flyweight division (– 51 kg) at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, FInland. Personal life Willi ...

(South Africa) 3-0 *Final: Defeated

(West Germany) 3-0 (won gold medal)

Professional career

Brooks turned pro in 1953 and had limited success. He retired in 1958 after a string of seven losses, having won 10 and lost 9 with 4 KO in his career.

Life after boxing

Towards the end of his professional career Brooks began attending law school at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

. He later worked as a survey engineer at the Ohio Department of Transportation for 32 years. Brooks died on April 14, 2020.

References

* (Obituary also appeared in the printed edition of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 19, 2020 and is the same as the cleveland.com one)

External links

* 1933 births Boxers from Cleveland Flyweight boxers Boxers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers of the United States Olympic gold medalists for the United States in boxing Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics American male boxers 2020 deaths John Adams High School (Ohio) alumni {{US-boxing-Olympic-medalist-stub