Cliff Brookshire put together an excellent career as a coach and athletic director at several schools in western North Carolina. A native of Buncombe County and a 1955 graduate of Wake Forest, Brookshire was an assistant coach at Canton High for four years and then served as head coach and athletic director at Charles D. Owen, Brevard, Tuscola, and Enka. He won 86 games during his 12 years as a head coach, including a 60-13 mark at Brevard where he won a state 3-A football championship and had two unbeaten teams. Brookshire was also the first football coach in Tuscola history.  During one stretch of 13 games over two seasons, his teams did not give up a single point. He also coached what is reported to be one of the first integrated football teams in the state back in the early 1960’s at Brevard and played a key role in making that process as smooth as possible. Brookshire coached in both the East-West all-star game and the Shrine Bowl games and also served a four-year term on the NCHSAA Board of Directors. He eventually got out of coaching to pursue business interests.