One of just two CCIW MVP’s in Augustana women’s basketball history, Keesha Brooks also excelled for coach Diane Schumacher on the softball diamond. Following her stellar two-sport collegiate career, her athletic pursuits have been carried out on the football field.
A product of nearby Rock Island High School, Brooks was a three-year letter winner and a first team All-CCIW performer for Schumacher in both basketball and softball, graduating from Augustana in 1993.
As a sophomore in 1990-91, Brooks was a member of the last CCIW basketball champion to go 16-0 in the league. She was the team’s second-leading scorer and rebounder behind conference MVP Katy Hulin, averaging 10.1 points and 5.2 rebounds a game. She led the CCIW in field goal percentage at .625 and was a second team all-conference selection as Augustana finished 19-5 overall.
With Hulin gone the next season, Brooks became the Vikings’ go-to player and responded with team-leading averages of 17.3 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. Augustana finished 19-7 overall and 13-3 in the CCIW and, although the Vikings came up just short of winning another championship, Brooks earned first team all-conference honors and again led the league in field goal percentage at .581.
That set up a huge senior season for the 5’ 10” forward. Brooks led the conference with averages of 19.8 points and 11.6 rebounds per game in league play and also posted the league’s best field goal percentage (.565) for the third year in a row. In addition, she led the Vikings in steals, with 81 and blocked shots, with 15. Brooks was named the 1993 CCIW Most Outstanding Player and guided the team to another conference title with a 12-2 mark in the league and 19-7 overall. Along the way, she set a school record which still stands when she snared 21 rebounds against Carthage on January 16, 1993.
Keesha’s impact on the Augustana basketball program is illustrated by the fact that she still holds the school record for career field goal percentage (.559) and ranks fifth in scoring (1,163 points) and fourth in rebounding (655). Her senior-year totals of 492 points and 279 rebounds each rank third on Augustana’s single-season lists and she ranks sixth on both with 449 points and 262 rebounds as a junior. She also owns the second (.571), fourth (.560) and 10th-best (.530) single-season field goal shooting marks in school history.
Right after winning conference MVP honors on the hardwood, Brooks moved outside and put together a first-team All-CCIW season with Schumacher’s softballers. She hit .338 and led the Vikings in hits, runs, doubles, triples, home runs, total bases and slugging percentage. She also led the club with 14 stolen bases without being caught. As a junior, she hit a team-high .443, which still ranks as the ninth-best single-season average in school history. She led the Vikings in doubles, home runs, RBI, total bases, slugging percentage and stolen bases, with eight in as many attempts.
In addition to degrees from Augustana in political science and public administration, Keesha possesses a master’s in professional counseling from the Illinois School of Professional Counseling (Argosy University). She resides in Oak Lawn, Illinois and has spent the last 15 years working in the field of family services. She is currently a foster home licensing representative and social worker with Unity Parenting & Counseling in Chicago, Illinois and is also working toward her real estate broker’s license.
Away from work, Brooks stayed active playing flag football for more than a decade and in 2007 was inducted into the National Touch Football League Hall of Fame. However, looking for a more physical game, in 2006 she latched on with the Chicago Force of the Independent Women’s (tackle) Football League. Playing on the offensive line, she was the team’s Offensive Rookie of the Year and went on to earn IWFL All-Star status three times. She was also a four-time team captain and in 2009, was named Chicago’s Offensive co-MVP.
In 2010, Keesha was selected to play for Team USA in the first International Federation of American Football Women's World Championships in Stockholm, Sweden. The United States won the Gold Medal, defeating Canada 66-0 in the championship game.
In 2011, the Force moved to the Women’s Football Alliance and Brooks was named a WFA All-American. This season, she and her teammates played for the league title at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, coming up just short in a 40-36 loss to the San Diego Surge.
Keesha, who is the daughter of Johnny Brooks and the late Maxine Lewis and mother of the late Kayla Brooks-Walton, credits Augustana with helping her “develop into an amazing athlete and well-rounded person. My time at Augie was memorable and enriching.”
