The football community has lost a trailblazer. Sherman Lewis, a former football player and coach, passed away on May 15. A Michigan State University spokesperson reportedly confirmed the news. Lewis was 83 at the time of passing.

“Sherman Lewis was a true Spartan legend,” former MSU star Jimmy Raye told reporter and historian Tom Shanahan. “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.”

According to a 2007 tribute from the Spartans to Lewis, “the biggest problem he faced was discrimination - and not in the football program, where Daugherty’s color-blind reputation was well-deserved.”

Lewis rose to prominence as an All-American college star during the 1960s before eventually becoming one of the league’s most respected and record-breaking coaches and offensive coordinators of color.

“It's hard to pinpoint discrimination sometimes,” Lewis said. “It can be subtle. But the town of East Lansing was still very segregated. It was hard to find a place to live there. And mixing wasn't condoned. The football program was definitely more progressive than the town was.”

Like Sherman Lewis, Jimmy Raye, an MSU Hall of Famer, had come to the Spartans to play for head coach Duffy  Daugherty. 

With Daugherty, who had a 109–69–5 record in the program, Lewis earned All-American honors and second-team All-Big Ten in 1962. The following year, he was a first-team All-American.

Lewis won the 1963 Football News Player of the Year after he rushed for 577 yards on 90 carries and caught 11 passes for 303 yards.

Throughout his career, he recorded 1,566 yards and 23 touchdowns and was a Big Ten champion in the long jump and the 300-yard dash. 

Lewis, an important name in the Spartans’ history and 2001 Hall of Famer, also dabbled in the NFL as a coach, but he never stopped striving for more.

Sherman Lewis Wanted More Out Of His NFL Career

Lewis played for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League but turned to the NFL for his coaching career. He spent nine seasons with the San Francisco 49ers in their heyday between 1983 and 1991. 

With him, the franchise won three Super Bowl championships. Lewis mentored Roger Craig as his running backs coach, then Jerry Rice and John Taylor as their wide receiver coach. In 1992, Lewis became and remained the offensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers till 1999. 

He coached Packers star Bret Favre and Andre Rison, from MSU, into winning the 1996 Super Bowl Championship. He was the first Black offensive coordinator to win the title. 

Still, Lewis shared that he had other ambitions that never came true. 

“I got to work with some great coaches and players. No question, I wished I had the chance to be a head coach. But looking back, I did all I could,” Lewis told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 2015. “I was disappointed, but I'm not going to hang my hat on that. I had a great career and was fortunate to coach in the NFL.”

Lewis leaves behind a legacy that stretched beyond wins, impacting both college football and the NFL across generations. Even without ever getting the head-coaching opportunity he once hoped for, Lewis helped shape some of football’s greatest teams.

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Written by

Akanksha Biradar

Edited by

Aadesh Dhote