Sherman Lewis, offensive coordinator of the Green Bay Packers from 1992-99, died Friday, May 15, at the age of 83, according to both the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press.
Lewis helped make history, along with Ray Rhodes, when the two were named offensive and defensive coordinators, respectively, by Mike Holmgren, when he was hired as Packers head coach in 1992. It marked the first time that an NFL team had two Black coordinators.
In fact, at the time, there had been no more than a handful of Black coordinators in the history of the NFL. In 1991, there was only one and he didn't even hold the title. Terry Robiskie was listed by the Los Angeles Raiders in their media guide as their tight ends coach, but he performed the duties of an offensive coordinator under head coach Art Shell.
The only two previous offensive coordinators were Billie Matthews with the Indianapolis Colts in 1985-86, and Jimmy Raye with Tampa Bay in 1985-86 and New England in 1990.
Lewis and Rhodes had served as assistant coaches along with Holmgren in San Francisco over the previous six years. When the Packers hired them, Lewis was receivers coach and Rhodes defensive backfield coach. In all, Lewis spent nine years as an assistant with the 49ers.
"We would like to put the 49ers system in and we hope that we teach it better than ever before," Lewis said when he was hired by the Packers. He also promised changes. "We'll go more with two backs," he said. "We won't go with four wideouts as much. We'll throw more to the backs."
Although he never called the plays under Holmgren, Lewis was a valuable teacher and helped implement former San Francisco coach Bill Walsh's perennially potent offense with the 49ers – one much more suited, it should be noted, for cold-weather Green Bay than former head coach Lindy Infante's pass-to-daylight attack.
Lewis was a two-way halfback at Michigan State during the one-platoon era of college football. He then played two seasons in the Canadian Football League from 1964-65 and two more with the New York Jets of the American Football League from 1966-67.
Before joining the 49ers' staff, Lewis was an assistant coach at Michigan State from 1969-82. After winning his fourth Super Bowl as an assistant with the Packers – he won his first three with the 49ers – and serving one year as an assistant under Rhodes in Green Bay in 1999, Lewis was offensive coordinator in Minnesota (2000-01) and Detroit (2003-04). In 2009, he was an offensive assistant with Washington.
The cause and place of Lewis' death is unavailable at this time.
