'A TRUE SPARTAN LEGEND' Former Michigan State greats honor Sherman Lewis's legacy

A legion of football dignitaries and Michigan State football greats are lining up to voice their admiration for former Spartan football player and assistant coach Sherman Lewis, who passed away late last week at 83.

“Sherman Lewis was a true Spartan legend,” said Jimmy Raye, another Michigan State 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.”

Lewis, an All-American halfback at Michigan State in 1963, had been residing recently in an assisted living home.

He was best known for earning consensus All-American honors as a senior in 1963 while finishing third in the Heisman Trophy, behind 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 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,” Raye said. “As a mentor and lifelong friend, he set the standard for many future Spartans players and coaches to come. Rest in love, my brother.”

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) – Daughtery’s Underground Railroad being the head coach’s movement to bring Black student-athletes from the segregated South to his Michigan State football program, helping change the face of college football and win National Championships.

“Sherm was like a magnet,” said Charlie Baggett, who played quarterback at Michigan State from 1973-75 and was a Spartan assistant coach for 14 years. “People were attracted to him the minute they met him. He was so caring and thoughtful of others. RIP in my Spartan Brother.”

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, Ky. 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.

The Lewis tip was from the head 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, and many other schools and teams in the South had yet to integrate. 

As a senior in 1963, Lewis was a team co-captain in football and track and field. He won Big Ten titles in the long jump and indoor sprint events.

As a senior in 1963, Lewis led Michigan State 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. Illinois earned the right to play in the Rose Bowl with that victory. Butkus finished sixth in the Heisman Trophy voting. 

The Spartans’ 1963 freshmen evolved into mature juniors and seniors on Daugherty’s 1965 and 1966 National Championship teams. They included College Football Hall of Fame players 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 demeanor 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.”

Lewis and Muhammad Ali were born in 1942 and grew up in the same Louisville neighborhood. 

“In his quiet demeanor, he exhibited that Louisville, Kentucky Spirit we saw in Muhammad Ali’s confidence and determination,” Jones said. 

Lewis finished his Michigan State career ranked No. 5 on the school’s career rushing list with 1,566 yards and No. 3 in total touchdowns (23). 

In 1963, he was on the receiving end of what were the longest two pass plays in Spartan history, an 88-yarder against USC and an 87-yarder against Wisconsin. Against Northwestern, he ran 87 yards for a touchdown, then the third-longest run in Michigan State history. 

He averaged 6.4 yards per carry in 1963 (577 yards on 90 attempts) and had 11 receptions for 303 yards (27.5 average).

“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,” Lewis said 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 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.

“The Pro Football Hall of Fame created its Awards of Excellence program in 2022 with individuals like Sherman Lewis in mind,” said Rich Desrosiers, Chief Communications and Content Officer for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “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.’”

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.

At that event, Lewis participated in his last media interview, with event emcee Dan Fouts, a Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback. Fouts asked Lewis about Daugherty’s influence on his career.

“It was a great experience for me,” Lewis told Fouts . “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.”

Fouts was saddened by the news of Lewis’s passing. 

“A pioneer is one of great courage, resourcefulness, intelligence and toughness,” Fouts said. “Sherman was all of that and more. We need more people to emulate this man.”

Lewis continuously voiced his love for Michigan State, and provided stability to the program’s staff, particularly in the turbulent transitions from Denny Stolz to Darryl Rogers and Rogers to Muddy Waters. In 1980, the then-38-year-old Lewis coveted the Michigan State head coaching job, which eventually 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.”

Lewis interviewed for Michigan State’s head coaching job in November of 1994 at a Grand Rapids hotel with former Michigan State president Peter McPherson. Michigan State eventually hired Nick Saban over Lewis, Jim Tressel and others. 

Years later, Lewis learned through Michigan State assistant athletic director Clarence Underwood that Lewis was never seriously considered for the job.

“I guess I was just a token interview,” Lewis said on Page 271 of ‘RAYE OF LIGHT.’

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 for head coaching job interviews led to the NFL establishing The Rooney Rule in 2003.

Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy, a native of Jackson, Mich., counted Raye as his mentor and Lewis as an inspiration. Dungy is not alone in his appreciation for Lewis.

“I owe my start in coaching to Sherman Lewis and a few others,” said former Michigan State player Ty Willingham, who coached Stanford to the Rose Bowl in 1999 and became Notre Dame’s first Black head coach in any sport, from 2002-04. “Sherman provided me with a brilliant model of coaching and perseverance in the coaching profession. His words remain with me today.”

(Tom Shanahan is a freelance writer who was penned many articles, essays and books about Michigan State’s and Duffy Daugherty’s role in changing the face of college football and American sports via a mindset of inclusion, a movement Shanahan refers to as Michigan State’s “Underground Railroad.” Shanahan is the author of “The Right Thing To Do: The True Pioneers of College Football Integration in the 1960s,” and “RAYE OF LIGHT: Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, the Integration of College Football, and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans.” Sample Shanahan’s work at: https://tomshanahan.report/tom-shanahans-books/)