School district won’t rename Kingston Stadium for broadcaster Brooks

CEDAR RAPIDS - The Cedar Rapids school district will not be renaming Kingston Stadium in honor of legendary broadcaster Bob Brooks.

District spokeswoman Marcia Hughes said in an email Wednesday that the district plans to follow its policy of not changing the names of facilities.

'We appreciate Mr. Brooks and we are proud to have the Kingston press box - in which he worked - named in his honor,” Hughes said.

According to the school district policy handbook, the names of its existing facilities are to remain unchanged unless the school board agrees otherwise.

The district in 2011 announced that Brooks would be a charter member of the Kingston Stadium Hall of Fame, and the press box was named in his honor.

Linn County supervisor Amy Johnson said she understood the school board's decision, but admitted she was disappointed.

'I would have loved to have seen Bob Brooks honored with a greater presence at Kingston Stadium, just because he contributed so much to sports journalism and to sports history here in Linn County,” Johnson said. 'However, I respect the right of the school board to make the decision they have made.”

In June, the Linn County Board of Supervisors voted to approve a resolution encouraging the school district to rename the more than 60-year-old structure as Bob Brooks Stadium.

Brooks, whose broadcasting career spanned seven decades, died in June at age 89.

He was the first to broadcast from the stadium's press box.

- Molly Duffy of The Gazette contributed to this report.