{{Short description|American journalist (1871–1951)}} [[File:Cy Sherman.jpg|thumb|right|185px|Cy Sherman with Glenn Presnell, c. 1943]] '''Charles Sumner''' "'''Cy'''" '''Sherman''' (March 10, 1871 – May 22, 1951) was an American journalist and is known as the "father of the Cornhuskers" after giving the University of Nebraska football team the name "Cornhuskers" in 1899. At his suggestion in 1936, Associated Press (AP) sports editor Alan J. Gould created the first AP Poll for ranking college football teams. Sherman began his career writing at the ''Nebraska State Journal'' in Lincoln, spent a short time at the Red Lodge, Montana ''Pickett'' before returning to Lincoln and the ''Lincoln Star'' where he spent most of his career. At his death he was called by the ''Star'' the "Dean of American Sportswriters".<ref name="obit">Cy Sherman Dies; Dean of American Sports Writers, The Lincoln Star (Lincoln, Nebraska) May 23, 1951, page 1 and 2, accessed October 17, 2016, at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7061146// and https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7061235//, obituary was widely republished, for instance, see Cy Sherman, Noted Nebraska Sports Editor, Dies, Northwest Arkansas Times (Fayetteville, Arkansas) May 23, 1951, page 8, accessed October 22, 2016, at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7126792//</ref><ref name="Christopherson2009">{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2009-06-20 |title=Deep Red: The story behind the name 'Cornhuskers' |url=https://journalstar.com/sports/huskers/football/deep-red-the-story-behind-the-name-cornhuskers/article_2fa80a93-6d8f-5800-8223-772a759ff5a0.html |access-date=2024-10-08 |website=JournalStar.com |language=en}}</ref>
==Early life== Charles Sumner Sherman was born in Villisca, Iowa, on March 10, 1871, to Charles Wheelan Sherman and Orilla (Groom) Sherman. His father was a Civil War veteran and newspaper publisher and editor. He was born in Richland County, Ohio, on June 6, 1841, and died in Los Angeles, California, in January 1921. His mother was born in Marion County, Iowa, on August 26, 1842, and died in Plattsmouth, Nebraska, on May 31, 1900. Sherman first attended schools in Glenwood, Iowa, before his family moved to Plattsmouth, where he attended Plattsmouth High School.<ref name="Baldwin1932">{{Cite web |title=The Nebraskana Society |url=https://usgennet.org/usa/ne/topic/resources/OLLibrary/Nebraskana/pages/nbka0244.htm |access-date=2024-10-08 |website=usgennet.org}}</ref> In Plattsmouth, his father was the publisher of the ''Plattsmouth Journal'', and Sherman spent time in its shop in where he learned printing.<ref name="obit"/> Sherman married Nancy Ada Moore in Davenport, Iowa, on August 16, 1893. Nancy was born in Davenport on October 31, 1870.<ref name="Baldwin1932"/>
==Origin of the Cornhusker name== During the 1890 through 1899 seasons, the Huskers had been called multiple names including Treeplanters, Rattlesnake Boys, Antelopes, Old Gold Knights and Bugeaters. The school was changing its school colors to scarlet and cream in 1892 and the Old Gold Knights no longer made sense. By 1892, the team's most commonly used nickname was the Bugeaters, possibly named after the insect-devouring bull bats<ref name="Babcock">{{Cite web|url=http://www.huskersnside.com//pdf5/40179.pdf?ATCLID=2722&SPSID=8&SPID=22&DB_OEM_ID=100|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110712232815/http://www.huskersnside.com//pdf5/40179.pdf?ATCLID=2722&SPSID=8&SPID=22&DB_OEM_ID=100|url-status=usurped|archive-date=July 12, 2011|title=Husker Football History|last=Babcock|first=Mike|publisher=Huskernside.com|access-date=August 29, 2012}}</ref><ref name="Origin">{{Cite web|url=http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=440&SPID=22&DB_OEM_ID=100&ATCLID=2802|publisher=Huskers.com|date=July 26, 2009|title=Origin of Cornhusker Nickname|access-date=August 29, 2012}}</ref> or possibly as a teasing reference to the only food an East Coast reporter believed was left for residents to eat after an 1870s drought.<ref name="Christopherson2009"/> Sherman attended a Thanksgiving 1893 game between Nebraska and the University of Iowa and when he saw the team called the "Bug Eaters" in the papers after the game, he decided the team should have a better name.<ref name="obit"/> Sherman thought the name Bugeaters was unglamorous and was tired of referring to the Nebraska teams with that name.<ref name="Babcock"/><ref name="Origin"/>
Sherman was writing for the ''Nebraska State Journal'' starting in about 1898,<ref name="leaves">{{Cite news |date=1913-08-20 |title=Article clipped from Omaha Daily Bee |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/omaha-daily-bee/7070227/ |access-date=2024-01-11 |work=Omaha Daily Bee |pages=3}}</ref> and in 1899 was the first to use the name Cornhuskers to refer to Nebraska. He did so frequently in his columns and University journalism professor Alvin Watkins Jr. made a push for its adoption on campus.<ref name="Christopherson2009"/> It was a successful effort and Cornhuskers would become the only used name for the team starting in 1900.<ref name="Babcock"/><ref name="Origin"/> The student yearbook changed its name to the “Cornhusker” in 1907.<ref name="Christopherson2009"/> When the Nebraska legislature passed a bill naming Nebraska the Cornhusker State in 1946, Sherman received the pen used to sign the bill.<ref name="obit"/>
==Later career==
===Red Lodge=== In August 1913, Sherman moved to Red Lodge, Montana, where he became editor and part owner of the Red Lodge ''Picket'',<ref name="leaves"/><ref>{{Cite news |date=1913-11-04 |title=[No Headline] Lincoln Daily News (Lincoln, Nebraska) November 4, 1913, page 8 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/lincoln-journal-star-no-headline-linco/7061429/ |access-date=2024-01-11 |work=Lincoln Journal Star |pages=8}}</ref> but returned to Nebraska and in about 1915 and became editor of the ''Star''.<ref name="obit"/>
===Professional wrestling=== In 1916, Sherman refereed a professional wrestling match in Baltimore, Maryland, between Nebraska's Joe Stecher (who won) and Baltimore's Gus "Americus" Schoenlein for the title of world's heavyweight champion, which had been vacated upon the retirement of the previous title holder, Frank Gotch, who was in the audience.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1916-04-29 |title=Joe Stecher wind Match, The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Maryland) April 29, 1916, page 6 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-joe-stecher-wind-match/7187203/ |access-date=2024-01-11 |work=The Baltimore Sun |pages=9}}</ref> Sherman played a role in advocating Stecher's career, which increased the wrestler's prominence. Later in the year, Sherman was credited with discovering Earl Caddock from Anita, Iowa, after Caddock defeated Mort Henderson.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1916-12-26 |title=Article clipped from The Seattle Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-seattle-star/7187240/ |access-date=2024-01-11 |work=The Seattle Star |pages=7}}</ref> In February 1917, Sherman criticized Jim Londos for wrestling in Nebraska under assumed identities, a tactic known as "ringing in" which meant that gamblers and Londos's small-time Nebraska opponents would not know who they were fighting.<ref>Steven Johnson, Greg Oliver, Mike Mooneyham, J. J. Dillon, The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: Heroes and Icons, ECW Press, Jan 11, 2013,</ref> Sherman refereed a match between Caddock and Stecher in April 1917 in Omaha. Caddock won the match, and Sherman's work was controversial when he disallowed a fall when Caddock had nearly pinned Stecher but had his feet off the mat.<ref>Caddock is Given Decision in Match with Joe Stecher, The Des Moines Register (Des Moines, Iowa), April 10, 1917, page 1 and 4, accessed October 26, 2016, at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7187301// and https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7187307//</ref>
Later that year Sherman organized athletic shows in Lincoln to raise money to support Lincoln's Western Baseball League team and to support John L. Griffith's cantonment gymnasium fund. At one show Fred Fulton boxed, while Caddock wrestled at the other. Boxers Mike and Tommy Gibbons were also part of the affair.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1917-12-19 |title=Plans to Save Ball Club, The Des Moines Register, (Des Moines, Iowa) December 19, 1917, page 8 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-des-moines-register-plans-to-save-ba/7187362/ |access-date=2024-01-11 |work=The Des Moines Register |pages=8}}</ref>
===College football and the AP poll=== In 1935, AP sports editor Alan J. Gould declared a three-way tie for national champion in football between Minnesota, Princeton, and Southern Methodist. Minnesota fans protested, and a number of Gould's colleagues led by Sherman suggested he create a poll of sports editors instead of only using his own list, and the next year the AP Poll began.<ref>Halberstam, David. Breaking news: how the Associated Press has covered war, peace, and everything else. Princeton Architectural Press, 2007. p150-151</ref> As a writer, Sherman's column in the ''Star'' was for a time called "Brass Tacks".<ref name="Christopherson2009"/> He was known as an advocate for sportsmanship and opposed commercialization and excess recruiting in the college game.<ref name="obit"/>
===Western League Baseball=== As early as the 1910s, Sherman was involved in minor league baseball in Lincoln. During World War II, the Western Baseball League disbanded and in 1946, Sherman was one of six owners of franchises which organized a reconstituted league which began play in 1947. Sherman's team was the Lincoln Athletics, and they played on a field named for Sherman. In 1947 the president of the league was US Senator from Colorado, Edwin C. Johnson, and Sherman was treasurer.<ref name="obit"/><ref>{{Cite news |date=1946-10-24 |title=Article clipped from Waukesha Daily Freeman |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/waukesha-daily-freeman/7126838/ |access-date=2024-01-11 |work=Waukesha Daily Freeman |pages=8}}</ref> The Lincoln A's disbanded in 1952, the year after Sherman died, and the Western League closed in 1958.
===Retirement=== He retired from the Star on July 1, 1946, after nearly 60 years as a sports writer.<ref name="obit"/>
==Other activities and death== Sherman was active in Lincoln society. He was a member of the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, the Lincoln University Club and the Nebraskana Society.<ref name="Baldwin1932"/> The “N” Club, usually reserved for Husker letter winners, made Sherman an honorary member<ref name="Christopherson2009"/> in 1933.<ref name="obit"/> He also had an honorary lifetime membership in the University of Nebraska Alumni Association and was a member of the Elks.<ref name="obit"/>
At his death on May 22, 1951, in Lincoln, he was survived by his wife, Nancy, and three brothers and two sisters. Two of his brothers were also in the printing business.<ref name="obit"/> He is buried at Wyuka Cemetery in Lincoln.
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== *[http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?57538-Meet-The-Sports-Writers/page30 Meet the Sports Writers]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sherman, Cy}} Category:1871 births Category:1951 deaths Category:People from Plattsmouth, Nebraska Category:People from Montgomery County, Iowa Category:Sportswriters from Iowa Category:Sportswriters from Nebraska Category:Nebraska Cornhuskers