Sherman Lewis, a Michigan State trailblazing athlete and coach, dies at 83
PHOTO: Sherman Lewis was honored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the NFL Awards of Excellence class for 2022.
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— Click here for book review and purchase link: THE RIGHT THING TO DO, The True Pioneers of College Football Integration in the 1960s and here for a purchase link to RAYE OF LIGHT, Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, the Integration of College Football and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans.
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— Documentary synopsis: Duffy documentary snynopsis.pdf – Google Drive
— I will debate anybody, anytime, anywhere Duffy Daugherty led college football integration
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By TOM SHANAHAN
Michigan State All-American halfback Sherman Lewis, a pioneer African American athlete and coach, died on Friday night, according to former MSU athletes informed by a family member or Lewis’ accountant.
Lewis was 83. He had been residing recently in an assistant living home.
He was best known for earning consensus All-American honors as a senior in 1963 while finishing third in the Heisman Trophy voting to Navy quarterback Roger Staubach. But like many stories involving Michigan State’s 1960s African American trailblazers, Lewis played a far deeper role than he receives credit in the national media.
“Sherman Lewis was a true Spartan legend,” said Michigan State’s Jimmy Raye, another MSU trailblazer who considered Lewis a mentor. “His legacy extended beyond the football field, where his electrifying play gained All-American recognition. He was the first player from the segregated South to play a substantial role for coach Duffy Daugherty and the Spartans.
“Sherman went on to become a highly successful assistant coach under Duffy, a career that extended into the NFL as a four-time Super Bowl champion. As a mentor and lifelong friend, he set the standard for many future Spartans players and coaches to come. REST IN LOVE my brother.”
Video of Sherman Lewis at the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s NFL Awards of Excellence, 2023. Dan Fouts, the master of ceremonies, recognized Duffy Daugherty’s role recruiting Lewis and Jimmy Raye from the segregated South and hiring them as pioneer Black coaches. Video has a glitch from :45 thru 1:30. Lewis on stage with Dan Fouts, 2:52 to 4:52.
As an athlete, Lewis was Daugherty’s first Underground Railroad passenger to earn All-Big Ten honors (1961 and 1962) prior to becoming the first to earn All-American recognition (1963).
As a coach, Lewis was one of college football’s early Black assistant coaches when Daugherty added him to his 1969 staff. He coached with the Spartans 14 years under four coaches: Daugherty, 1969-72; Denny Stolz, 1973-75; Darryl Rogers, 1976-79; and Muddy Waters, 1980-82.
Lewis moved on to the NFL in 1983 with the San Francisco 49ers under Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh. He won three Super Bowl rings with the 49ers (XIX, XXIII, XXIV) and a fourth with the Green Bay Packers as offensive coordinator under head coach Mike Holmgren.
Lewis was the first Black offensive coordinator to win a Super Bowl when the 1996 Packers beat New England in Bowl XXXI, although he doesn’t receive credit for the milestone in the media.
Daugherty recruited the slight but elusive 5-foot-9, 158-pounder in 1960 out of DuPont Manual High in segregated Louisville, Kentucky. He learned about Lewis same as his other early Underground Railroad passengers — a tip from a southern Black high school coach or White southerner opposed to segregation who recognized Michigan State as a place of opportunity for Black athletes.
— Here’s how Sam Cunningham greeted Sherman Lewis at the Pearly Gates Gridiron – Tom Shanahan Report
— The Drive with Jack’s tribute to Sherman Lewis – Tom Shanahan Report
The Lewis tip was from coach at Louisville’s Flagut High who was friends with Michigan State athletic director Biggie Munn. By then, Michigan State’s rosters had established a reputation that featured Black stars in the 1954 and 1956 Rose Bowl victories. By the 1960s, Daugherty fielded college football’s first fully integrated rosters at a time other schools followed an unwritten quota limiting Black athletes to a half-dozen or so.
As a senior in 1963, Lewis was a team co-captain who set a standard carried on by future Spartans. He also was a team captain on the Spartans’ track and field teams while he won Big Ten titles in the long jump and indoor sprint events.
Although Michigan State’s 1963 freshmen weren’t eligible for the varsity (the NCAA prohibited freshmen until 1972), they watched and learned while Lewis led the 1963 team to a showdown with Illinois for the Big Ten title. Illinois, led by Dick Butkus, won the game that was delayed a week to November 28 following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
MORE QUOTES ON SHERMAN LEWIS
“Sherman Lewis embodied the excellence and trailblazing spirit that defined Michigan State football under College Football Hall of Fame coach Duffy Daugherty. As an All-American Spartan and later one of the game’s most respected coaches, Sherman left an indelible mark on college football and inspired generations through his leadership, character and success. Our thoughts are with his family and the entire Michigan State community.”
— Steve Hatchell, National Football Foundation President and CEO
“The Pro Football Hall of Fame created its Awards of Excellence program in 2022 with individuals like Sherman Lewis in mind. His lengthy tenure as an assistant coach helped shape the careers of hundreds of pro players, several who later were honored with a Bronze Bust in Canton, Ohio. You cannot tell the complete story of the NFL without appreciating “Coach Sherm.”
— Rich Desrosiers, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Chief Communications and Content Officer
“A pioneer is one of great courage, resourcefulness, intelligence and toughness. Sherman was all of that and more. We need more people to emulate this man.”
— Dan Fouts, Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback
“Sherm was like a magnet. People were attracted to him the minute they met him! He was so caring and thoughtful of others. RIP in my Spartan Brother!”
— Charles Baggett, Michigan State’s quarterback (1973-75) and long-time Michigan State and an NFL assistant coach.
“I knew Sherman was a special from the moment I met him as a Spartan assistant. It was a thrill to broadcast games with him with his razor-sharp mind and great football feel. We had been friends for years and every day I learned something from him that told me he would have been awesome head coach for us. One day at a practice, he looked at a diamond in the rough running back and said, ‘He reminds me of Marcus Allen.’ The young man was future Spartan star and Steelers All-Pro Le’Veon Bell. Rest in Peace Sherman Lewis — an amazing man.”
— George Blaha, Michigan State football play-by-play broadcaster who worked games with Sherman Lewis as his analyst.
The Spartans’ 1963 freshmen evolved into mature juniors and seniors on Daugherty’s 1965 and 1966 national title teams. They included College Football Hall of Famers George Webster, Anderson, S.C.; Bubba Smith, Beaumont, Texas; Gene Washington, La Porte, Texas; and Clinton Jones, Cleveland, Ohio.
“Sherm Lewis is a Giant in his death as he was a Giant in his life,” Jones said. “He had a profound influence on me as a freshman at MSU, not only by his performance on the field, but his character and demeaner off the gridiron. He was small in stature but huge in his accomplishments as a husband, father, a great coach and a sincere dedicated friend. In his quiet demeaner, he exhibited that ‘Louisville, Kentucky Spirit” we saw in Muhammad Ali’s confidence and determination.”
Lewis and Ali, who was born Cassius Clay, were both born in 1942 and grew up in the same Louisville neighborhood.
“I watched Sherm play in awe of his skill, even as a little guy,” Jones said. “And then he went to have a stellar career as a professional footballer in the NFL, the Canadian Football League and as a coach in the NFL as one of the pioneer Black coaches, laying the ground for Jimmy Raye. Charlie Baggett and Tyrone Willingham.
“Sherm is my frat brother and dear friend that I will always cherish in my heart. I wish his wife Tony and his children absolute happiness. He will be truly missed but eternally remembered by all that knew him. Sherm, I wish you absolute happiness and good circumstances in your next life, and surely you and Tony will meet again. Duffy is so proud of you!”
Daugherty launched Lewis’ coaching career in 1969 after Lewis retired from four pro seasons – two in the Canadian Football League (1964-65) and two with the New York Jets (1966-67).
“Duffy called me, and I was gone,” said Lewis on Page 270 of “RAYE OF LIGHT, Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, the Integration of College Football and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans.”
In 1972, Daugherty added Raye to his staff. With Lewis and Raye, Daugherty included two Black assistants at a time other schools were hiring their first Black assistant. Lewis and Raye both fulfilled Daugherty’s faith in them all the way into the 21st Century. They earned NFL Awards of Excellence from the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
In 2022, Raye was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s inaugural NFL Awards of Excellence class. He was the second Black coordinator in league history when the Los Angeles Rams’ John Robinson hired him as offensive coordinator in 1983. A year later, Lewis was honored in the 2023 NFL Awards of Excellence class.
Lewis’ last media interview on his career was upon being introduced at the ceremony for the Pro Football Hall of Fame NFL Awards of Excellence. Dan Fouts, a Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback who served as the master of ceremonies, asked Lewis about Daugherty’s influence on his career.
“It was a great experience for me,” Lewis said. “Duffy was one of the greatest guys of all-time — coaching as well as a funny guy. He made coaching fun, but he made sure we understood there are things more important. I enjoyed my time with Duffy, and I thank him to this day for hiring me.”
Lewis loved Michigan State, and he provided stability to the program’s staff, particularly in the turbulent transitions from Stolz to Rogers and Rogers to Waters. In 1980, the then-38-year-old Lewis coveted the job that went to the 57-year-old Waters. But with Lewis’ loyalty to the Spartans, he accepted a position to join Waters’ staff.
“The Michigan State job would have been the greatest thing that ever happened to me,” Lewis said on Page 269 of RAYE OF LIGHT. “I love that place so much. I felt I could have recruited, hired a great staff and done the job. I’ve always thought it was such a great institution with great facilities. It’s the most beautiful campus in the country. They just needed to recruit better. I felt we could do that and be playing for national titles.”
The Spartans again overlooked Lewis in 1995 when he was with the Packers, and Nick Saban was hired. Although Saban won titles at Alabama and LSU, he wasn’t “Nick Saban” when he was hired in 1995. He never won a Big Ten title (Mark Dantonio later won three) and was frustrated recruiting against Michigan until he bolted for LSU in 2000. Sherman Lewis wasn’t going to bolt East Lansing.
Years later, Lewis learned more about the brief interview with then-President Peter McPherson at a Grand Rapids hotel through Michigan State assistant athletic director Clarence Underwood.
“I guess I was just a token interview,” Lewis said on Page 271 of RAYE OF LIGHT.
PHOTO: San Francisco assistant coach Sherman Lewis on the 49ers’ sideline with quarterback Joe Montana and head coach Bill Walsh.
Lewis was later passed over as an NFL head coach, despite endorsements from Holmgren. In 1998, Lewis was told by the Dallas Cowboys he was being flown to town for a secret interview, but he was met by the bright lights of TV cameras at the airport. The job went to Chan Gailey.
The plight of Lewis, Raye and other Black candidates in the 1990s denied a legitimate shot as a head coach interview led to the NFL establishing the Rooney Rule in 2003.
Despite Lewis never becoming a head coach, it’s important to understand this about his venerable career:
Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy considered Jimmy Raye a mentor.
Jimmy Raye considered Sherman Lewis a mentor.
And so did Tyrone Willingham, a Daugherty/Raye recruit who was the first Black head coach to lead a team to the Rose Bowl while he was Stanford’s head coach, in the 1999 season, and Notre Dame’s first Black head coach in any sport, 2002-04.
“I owe my start in coaching to Sherman Lewis and a few others,” said Willingham. “Sherman provided me with a brilliant model of coaching and perseverance in the coaching profession. His words remain with me today.”
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— My FWAA first-place story on the 1962 Rose Bowl and segregation
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I’ll put my facts on the true pioneers of college football integration versus Bear Bryant fairytales against anybody, anytime, anywhere. Watch here.
Click here for my story on the 1962 Rose Bowl and Segregation and Alabama.
— Tom Shanahan is an award-winning sportswriter with two books on college football integration, “RAYE OF LIGHT, Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, the Integration of College Football and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans,” and “THE RIGHT THING TO DO, The True Pioneers of College Football Integration in the 1960s.” They are the most accurate accounts of college football integration in the 1950s and 1960s. They also debunk myths about the 1970 USC-Alabama game. The false narrative co-opted the stories of the true pioneers who stood up to Jim Crow and the KKK.
— Two children’s books also explain Michigan State College Football Hall of Fame coach Duffy Daugherty’s impact on integration through the Underground Railroad and the Hawaiian Pipeline: “DUFFY’S COLLEGE FOOTBALL UNDERGROUND RAILROAD” and “HOW DUFFY PUT HAWAII ON AMERICA’S FOOTBALL MAP.”
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PURCHASE LINKS, non-fiction books
— RAYE OF LIGHT, August Publications or on Amazon.
— THE RIGHT THING TO DO, August Publications or on Amazon.
PURCHASE LINKS, children’s books
— DUFFY’S COLLEGE FOOTBALL UNDERGROUND RAILROAD: Order from Barnes and Noble here and Amazon here.
— HOW DUFFY PUT HAWAII ON AMERICA’S FOOTBALL MAP. Order here:
How Duffy Put Hawaii On America’s Football Map by Tom Shanahan, Paperback | Barnes & Noble®
Amazon.com: How Duffy Put Hawaii On America’s Football Map eBook : Shanahan, Tom: Kindle Store
