Unstoppable Drive

Since birth, when Rob Brooks came into the world with half a leg, he has refused to slow down or limit his options. He wore his first prosthesis at 8 months old, and since then he has been adamant about being as active as the kid next door.

On Tuesday night, he was in the starting lineup for Los Alamitos High in its basketball opener in the Buena Park tournament -- an achievement few thought possible.

“In life, there’s doubters, but you just don’t listen,” he said.

Brooks is a 5-foot-10 senior who plays wearing a high sock that covers his prosthesis. He walks with a limp but gets up and down the court using a skipping maneuver. Possessing superb upper-body strength, he outmuscles taller players, and he knows basketball because he’s the son of a coach.

“He’s really a hard-nosed kid,” Los Alamitos Coach Russ May said. “For what he has to endure, he’s a very successful player.”

The fact is, Brooks must work twice as hard as players with two normal legs.

“I made my body strong,” he said. “I can shoot and do other things on the court.”

Before Tuesday’s game, Brooks sat in the bleachers chewing gum, blowing bubbles and giving no hint about his long road traveled.

He was born with proximal femoral focal deficiency, a condition that affects one in 200,000. He has a shortened right femur, no thigh and no hip. A prosthesis made of titanium is attached to an ankle joint that’s serving as a knee, and his calf muscle is functioning as a thigh.

Doctors stared in wonderment watching Brooks, at a younger age, move around so well.

“How on earth is this kid making this prosthesis move while running up and down the court?” one asked.

His mother, Kathy, knows: “It’s just sheer will, and he’s so darn stubborn.”

Brooks could have had his foot amputated for cosmetic reasons at an early age, but the family chose otherwise. He could have covered his prosthesis with artificial skin, but he didn’t want to hide the truth.

“His concern wasn’t how it looked but how it worked,” Kathy said. “He’s always had this enormous inner drive. He just has this spirit that makes him get to the point where he needs to be.”

He removes his prosthesis when he takes a shower, sleeps or goes body surfing. He has no trouble laughing over the fact he has broken his “leg” at least a dozen times.

He carries around a tool box containing glue, screws and a screwdriver in case his leg needs fixing. The manufacturer of the prosthesis isn’t used to receiving lots of calls about broken legs, but not everyone inflicts as much wear and tear as Brooks.

“It’s kind of a joke to them,” he said. “No one else breaks their leg.”

Brooks moved to Temecula for his freshman year soon after his father, Steve, resigned in 1999 as basketball and volleyball coach at Los Alamitos after nearly 20 years. It was a difficult time, because Steve, who stayed on as a teacher, had been accused of misappropriating funds. The Orange County District Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute.

Brooks missed his friends and wanted to fulfill his dream of playing for Los Alamitos, so he moved back for his sophomore year and lived with his grandparents, then moved in with a friend last year.

This year, when he turned 18, his parents agreed to let him live on his own with a roommate in Seal Beach. He goes to church regularly, has a 3.8 grade-point average, plans to attend USC next fall and accepts the trust and responsibility his parents have placed in him.

“It’s been an experiment and tough on us but very successful,” Kathy said. “He knows if he messes up, he’s out of there. I talk to him every day on the phone and he knows he has to be more forthcoming with information than being up in his room.”

Brooks knew people would be skeptical whether he could be an effective basketball player.

“I recognized the situation and I dealt with it as far as I wasn’t going to let it affect me or my life,” he said. “I just decided to go about playing, having fun, doing things in life and not worrying what people said or how they looked at me. I just had to realize if I didn’t think I was going to play, who was?”

Brooks was a varsity reserve last season and could lose his starting position when several players join the team after the football playoffs, but he contributed in a variety of ways Tuesday during Los Alamitos’ 76-46 victory over Garden Grove Bolsa Grande.

In the first two minutes, he posted up and drew a foul, then forced a jump ball. Later, he made a three-point basket, which produced a holler from his mom and dad sitting in the bleachers. He also forced a traveling violation with a quick defensive switch and finished with seven points and three assists in 20 minutes.

His biggest test came in the second quarter when 6-4, 245-pound Sylvester Jefferson landed on him -- but nothing broke.

“He’s living proof if you work hard to do something, you can do it,” Bolsa Grande Coach Scott Snyder said.

Steve Brooks, an assistant coach with USC’s women’s team, said he admires his son’s fortitude and determination.

“When you’re a parent, all you want is for him to live as normal a life as possible,” he said. “That wasn’t even a thought, to play varsity basketball. He’s exceeded expectations all the way.”

By earning a starting spot, Brooks has reached a skills level few others could have attained faced with similar obstacles.

“This is kind of everything I’ve played for,” he said. “I had a goal to make the team, play, be effective. All the work I put in when I was younger was for this year.”

Brooks doesn’t see himself as inspirational, but he deserves to savor this moment of triumph, as does his family.

“It blows us away,” Kathy said. “You just don’t ever tell kids they can’t do something because they’ll prove you wrong.”

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Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.