Sacramento State mourns the loss of Terrance Brooks, the university’s strength and conditioning director for the athletic department, who passed away on Monday June 13.

“My thoughts and prayers go to Terrance’s family at this time,” Sacramento State Director of Athletics Terry Wanless said on the Hornet sports website. “Terrance was a special person who I had had the honor of working with since he was a student athlete. He was a valuable member of our staff and a man that everyone looked up to and respected. He will be deeply missed.”

Brooks achieved his position at Sac State in 2009 after compiling an extensive resume as both an athlete and coach.

He was inducted into the Towson University Athletic Hall of Fame in Baltimore, Md. in 2001 for his achievements on the football field as an offensive lineman. Brooks then went on to play for the Cleveland Browns for two seasons before injuries cut his professional career short.

Not slowing down, Brooks began his career from the sidelines as head coach at Bridgewater College in Va. where he would turn around a slumping football program that had not won a game in two seasons. Under the tutelage of Brooks the team finished 5-5. This time also marked his first stint as a strength and conditioning director.

Brooks continued his success and progression at the college level at Shenandoah University in Va., Kalamazoo College in Mich., and back to Towson University before making the cross-country trip to Sac State.

Aside from his determination as a coach and director, Brooks also competed in weightlifting and was a four-time world and five-time national Drug Free Powerlifting champion. In 2007 he won a gold medal at the North American Powerlifing Championships.

Student athletes at Sac State will miss the opportunity to learn from such an accomplished man and competitor and some are now left to reflect on his contributions to the university. His pupils on the football team remember him as a man who demanded excellence, a mentor, and they know they lost a valued member of their family.

“You know what (Brooks) wanted from us and that’s to win in everything we did; in workouts, in school, in football and at home with the family,” said Hornet senior running back Stephen Tezanos-Pinto. “That’s going to be a really really hard man to replace. He really was the perfect role model.”

Out of respect for the Brooks family the university would not comment on the cause of death.

Brooks is survived by his wife Dana.