Herb Brooks

Herbert Paul "Herb" Brooks, Jr. (August 5, 1937–August 11, 2003) was an American coach, best known for coaching the U.S. hockey team to a gold medal at the 1980 Olympics in an event known as the "Miracle on Ice". 
On November 13, 2006, Brooks was posthumously inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
==Biography==
===Early life===
Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, he played on the high school hockey team that won the 1955 state hockey championship.
Brooks later played hockey at the University of Minnesota and was a member of the 1964 and 1968 United States Olympic teams. He almost made the 1960 Olympic team, only to be cut the week before the Olympic games started. He then sat at home and watched the team he almost made win gold. Later, he coached the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers to three NCAA Division I championships (1974, 1976, and 1979). After being approached by Michigan Tech when head coach John MacInnes died, Brooks coached St. Cloud State University in the mid-1980s. In Minnesota, many consider Brooks the best hockey coach of all time. In 1980, he became the first coach of the United States to lead his team to victory against the USSR in 20 years.
===Later career===
Brooks was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1990.
Brooks later coached in the National Hockey League for the New York Rangers, where he became the fastest coach in Rangers' team history to win 100 games. He also coached the Minnesota North Stars, New Jersey Devils, and Pittsburgh Penguins. He was a long-time head scout for the Penguins from the mid-1990s until the day of his death.
He also coached France in the 1998 Olympics. He again coached the U.S. hockey team at the 2002 Olympics, this time winning a silver medal. 
He was inducted into the International Hockey Hall of Fame in 1999, and the Hockey Hall of Fame, posthumously, in 2006.
===Death and legacy===
Brooks died in a single car accident on the afternoon of August 11, 2003, near Forest Lake, Minnesota, on Interstate 35. He was 66. It is believed that Brooks fell asleep behind the wheel before the accident after driving all night, and neither drugs nor alcohol was responsible.
Brooks was not wearing his seatbelt at the time of the crash, and according to the Minnesota State Patrol, it is likely he would have survived the crash if he had been.http://www.startribune.com/cars/11355856.html
Walt Disney Pictures released a film about the 1980 Olympic team in 2004 called Miracle featuring Kurt Russell playing the part of Brooks (Karl Malden had previously played Brooks in a 1981 television film called Miracle on Ice). Brooks served as a consultant for the film, which was completed shortly before his death. At the end of the movie there is a dedication to Brooks. It states at the end, "He never saw it. He lived it."
Upon the 25th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice, the Olympic ice arena in Lake Placid, New York, where the United States won their gold medal, was renamed Herb Brooks Arena. A statue of Brooks depicting his reaction to the victory in the "Miracle" game was erected in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 2003.
An award was created in Herb Brooks name, the Herb Brooks Award, is awarded at the conclusion of the Minnesota State High School League's state hockey tournament to "the most qualified hockey player in the state tournament who strongly represents the values, characteristics, and traits that defined Herb Brooks.
In 2006, Brooks was posthumously inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the Builders category. 
==Coaching statistics==
Note: GC = Games coached, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OL = Overtime loss, Pts = Points, Pct = Winning percentage
Season 	Team 	League 	GC 	W 	L 	T 	OL 	Pts 	Pct
1972–73 	Minnesota Golden Gophers 	NCAA 	34 	15 	16 	3 	— 	33 	0.485
1973–74 	Minnesota Golden Gophers 	NCAA 	34 	17 	12 	5 	— 	39 	0.574
1974–75 	Minnesota Golden Gophers 	NCAA 	42 	31 	10 	1 	— 	63 	0.750
1975-76 	Minnesota Golden Gophers 	NCAA 	38 	23 	14 	1 	— 	47 	0.618
1976–77 	Minnesota Golden Gophers 	NCAA 	42 	17 	22 	3 	— 	37 	0.440
1977–78 	Minnesota Golden Gophers 	NCAA 	38 	22 	14 	2 	— 	46 	0.605
1978–79 	Minnesota Golden Gophers 	NCAA 	44 	32 	11 	1 	— 	65 	0.739
1980 	USA Olympic Men's Team 	International Ice Hockey Federation	Olympic Gold Medal Team 	Olympic Gold Medal Team 	Olympic Gold Medal Team 	Olympic Gold Medal Team 	Olympic Gold Medal Team 	Olympic Gold Medal Team 	Olympic Gold Medal Team
1980–81 	HC Davos 	National League A 	28 	11 	16 	1 	— 	23 	0.411
1981–82 	New York Rangers 	NHL 	80 	39 	27 	14 	— 	92 	0.575
1982–83 	New York Rangers 	NHL 	80 	35 	35 	10 	— 	80 	0.500
1983–84 	New York Rangers 	NHL 	80 	42 	29 	9 	— 	93 	0.581
1984–85 	New York Rangers 	NHL 	45 	15 	22 	8 	— 	38 	0.422
1986–87 	St. Cloud State Huskies 	NCAA 	36 	25 	10 	1 	— 	51 	0.708
1987–88 	Minnesota North Stars 	NHL 	80 	19 	48 	13 	— 	51 	0.319
1991–92 	Utica Devils 	AHL 	80 	34 	40 	6 	— 	74 	0.463
1992–93 	New Jersey Devils 	NHL 	84 	40 	37 	7 	— 	87 	0.518
1998 	France Olympic Men's Team	International Ice Hockey Federation	11th-place finish 	11th-place finish 	11th-place finish 	11th-place finish 	11th-place finish 	11th-place finish 	11th-place finish
1999–2000	Pittsburgh Penguins 	NHL 	58 	29 	24 	5 	0 	63 	0.543
2002 	USA Olympic Men's Team 	International Ice Hockey Federation	Olympic Silver Medal Team	Olympic Silver Medal Team	Olympic Silver Medal Team	Olympic Silver Medal Team	Olympic Silver Medal Team	Olympic Silver Medal Team	Olympic Silver Medal Team
 	NCAA career totals 	 	308 	182 	109 	17 	— 	381 	0.619
 	NHL career totals 	 	507 	219 	222 	66 	0 	504 	0.497
==References==
Category:1980 Olympian
Category:American ice hockey coaches
Category:Minnesota Golden Gophers coaches
Category:Minnesota Golden Gophers players
Category:Minnesota North Stars coaches
Category:New Jersey Devils coaches
Category:New York Rangers coaches
Category:Pittsburgh Penguins coaches
Category:United States Hockey Hall of Fame
Category:Lester Patrick Trophy recipients
Category:Hockey Hall of Fame
Category:Born in 1937
Category:Dead in 2003
Category:Ice hockey players from Minnesota