Beloved former Irvington star athlete killed in car accident Tuesday – NJ.com

John Taylor’s first chore as Irvington High School athletic director after being hired in July 2017 was to throw Nashawn Brooks off the track.

“It was July 2017 and there was a heat advisory,” recalled Taylor. “I was doing a tour of the facilities and he was out running. He was the first student-athlete I met, and I told him I had to kick him off the track.

“He asked me when he could come back and I told him it would probably be OK around 6 or 7 p.m. after it got a little cooler. When I left for the day, he was back running the track.”

Brooks – a 2019 graduate who played football last year at Wagner – passed away in a car accident on Tuesday night, a devastating loss for the Irvington community. Brooks was an All-Group 4 linebacker as a senior with over 100 tackles. He was also a district and Essex County champion and state qualifier in wrestling.

Brooks became the first Irvington wrestler to be named Most Outstanding Wrestler at the Essex County Tournament. He was Irvington’s 2018-2019 Athlete of the Year and made as much of an impact out of the athletic arena as he did in it.

Taylor and wrestling coach Kyle Steele both said they have been inundated by messages from out-of-area coaches who were fond of Brooks.

“I think certain athletes, schools and athletic programs look back fondly on as the years go by,” said Taylor. “I think decades from now people will still be talking about Nashawn. The best thing I could say about him is I have two small children, and I would have let Nashawn baby-sit them no questions asked.

“The last time I saw him was in December at a basketball tournament in Hillside and we ended up talking for 20 minutes. That’s who he was. He was home from college, could have been doing anything, and he went to Hillside to support our basketball team.”

Brooks – a running back/linebacker in football – wrestled for three seasons. Steele, who was also the running backs coach, said he wasn’t sure he was an initial fit for wrestling.

“I didn’t want him originally, because in football he was hard-headed,” said Steele. “But he made the choice to do all the right things. He was a hard worker, made the right decisions to be a leader. He decided to do all the things you needed to do.

“Even with all his success – he was Prom King, had a ton of potential – he was still our hardest worker and bought in whole-heartedly.”

Steele said an example of his character is that as a senior football player Brooks agreed to move from running back to offensive line after Irvington graduated a good part of their starting line.

“We had a dynamic team, but I said to him somebody has to block for them,” said Steele. “He traded in his No. 4 for No. 52 and never complained one second. He became humble and he cared about everybody else.

“(When I heard about his passing), it took the air out of me. He’s one of those kids who transcended everything. The younger kids looked up to him. He had outstanding morals and core values. He was a feel-good story.”

Bill Evans can be reached at bevans@njadvancemedia.com. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.