RIO GRANDE VALLEY – "He was a man with a lot of love in his heart," said Bryan Brooks, son of former athletic director Jim Brooks. "He loved the university, and he loved the people of the Valley."
 
During his time as athletic director from 1952-73, hall of famer Jim Brooks oversaw the construction of the current UTRGV Fieldhouse and health and physical education complex, Orville Cox Tennis Center, and Jody Ramsey Memorial Stadium, as well as many other advancements throughout the athletic program.
 
UTRGV is currently amid more than $85 million in facilities enhancements affecting all 18 sports, including recently completed upgrades to the inside of the UTRGV Fieldhouse, which was built in 1969, such as new ribbon and video boards, new seating, and a redesigned court.
 
The construction of a brand new 15,000-square foot atrium with a lobby that will include a new entrance, new box office, new, unique way of watching games at the baseline club, a designated area for the hall of fame and hall of honor, a team store, new concessions, and new restrooms, is expected to be complete in the spring of 2025.
 
Jim Brooks was initially hired as the head football coach at Edinburg Junior College (EJC), the predecessor to UTRGV legacy institution Pan American College (PAC), in 1950, coaching the team's final season before becoming the department chair of health and physical education during the transition to becoming a baccalaureate college. Brooks was then hired as the first athletic director in university history, spending 31 years in that role and as athletic director emeritus (1973-83) at PAC and Pan American University (PAU).
 
His first major accomplishment came when he convinced the administration to transform an old bus barn into a multi-purpose gymnasium.
 
When the fieldhouse opened, an article in The Edinburg Daily Review stated that "the old gym has a seating capacity of zero and a usage factor of about 200 percent, since it is used day and night for physical education classes, basketball practices, intramurals, and other activities."
 
That old gym sat on a seven-acre patch of land that the university owned about two blocks west of the main campus of EJC and the early years of PAC, where the current Edinburg City Hall is located.
 
"I remember when all this was a seven-acre carrot patch," Brooks told the Valley Morning Star in 1969. "In the summer it was seven acres of sticker burrs. It was just a small, L-shaped patch of land the college owned, west of the main campus, and the college had somebody farm it for them."
 
The seven acres turned into what was popularly known as "West Campus," which hosted the gymnasium, a track & field, and all the physical education classes for the university at the time. This area still hosts a track & field and physical education classes for UTRGV students today, as health and physical education II is located on that land.
 
For 17 years, PAC practiced at that gym, played at Edinburg High School, and found unprecedented success highlighted by winning the 1963 NAIA National Championship in Kansas City, Mo. Before returning home, Brooks was told to stop the bus in Austin for a celebratory event for the team.
 
The bus was given a police escort to the state capitol and the team received a commendation in front of the state legislature. Three days later, PAC was given full state support by the legislature.
 
In 1965, Texas Proposition 1 provided infrastructure upgrades for 17 higher education institutions, including PAC, which allowed for the construction of the current UTRGV Fieldhouse and health and physical education complex I. 
 
This monumental facility was completed in 1969 and instantly became a cornerstone on campus, hosting all volleyball and men's and women's basketball home contests, as well as other major university events like graduations, career days, and registration. 
 
The fieldhouse has served as a premiere entertainment venue for the entire Rio Grande Valley, hosting four NBA games in the 1970s, musicians among the likes of country music icon George Strait, GRAMMY award-winners Huey Lewis and the News and Julio Iglesias, and a nationally televised presidential primary debate in 1987, the first of its kind in the Valley.
 
The fieldhouse continues to be the culmination of the vision that Brooks had for the university. From convincing the administration to allow him to host classes on the current UTRGV Edinburg Campus, to receiving nationwide attention in multiple sports, and to helping the university receive state support, Brooks was instrumental in transforming EJC into PAC and PAU, leading to membership in the UT System in 1989 as UT Pan American and now as UT Rio Grande Valley.
 
"[Jim] Brooks had the vision to see Pan American as it is now," UTRGV hall of fame men's basketball coach Sam Williams told Mario J. Reyna for his thesis in 1988. "I think because of Brooks' stand, our programs are the way they are today."
 
Today, UTRGV celebrates the work of former athletic director and professor Jim Brooks for his work towards the university and is expanding on his vision with the enhancements being made to the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
 
"He would be thrilled," said Lori Smith, the youngest daughter of Jim Brooks. "I think dad would be very pleased with the future of UTRGV Athletics."
 
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