Coach Ed Sherman, a 1996 College Football Hall of Fame inductee from Muskingum University, died Sept. 29. He was 97.

Sherman played football at his high school in Newark, Ohio and at Muskingum College. He graduated from Muskingum in 1936, coached at the high school level and served as assistant coach at Miami University in Ohio in 1944.

In 1945 he became Muskingum's head coach, a job he held for 22 years. His teams won six Ohio Conference championships. His college record was 141-43-7, a percentage of .757. He also served as Muskingum director of athletics, and he worked as a basketball referee.

His Muskingum coaching career ended after the 1966 season but he remained on the faculty through 1980. He also coached the Muskingum track team and had a record of 111-21 in dual meets.
In both 1955 and 1965, Coach Sherman was named the “Ohio Coach of the Year” by the Columbus, Ohio Dispatch.

Sherman was known for his service to the NCAA. He was the NCAA secretary-treasurer for a two-year term. He chaired the committee that established the I-A, I-AA, II, III divisions, and he was on the NCAA television committee and the NCAA-NAIA joint committee. He served 22 NCAA committees.

Sherman received a White House citation for contribution in athletics. In 1982 he received NACDA’s James C. Corbett Memorial Award honoring his work as a college director of athletics. In 1986 Muskingum named its football field for him. He was inducted into the NACDA Hall of Fame, as well as into the Halls of Fame of Muskingum University and Newark High School.

He is survived by his wife, Marge Marstellar Sherman, a 1936 graduate of Muskingum; two sons, Roger ’61 and Leigh ’62, both Muskingum graduates; and a daughter, Linda.