Jerry Martin Sherk (born July 7, 1948) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who was a

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the la ...

for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for 12 seasons between 1970 until 1981. He made the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

lineup for four straight years from 1973 through 1976,Jerry Sherk
at ClevelandBrowns.com. and is widely considered to be among the best defensive players in Cleveland Browns history.''

Eugene Register-Guard ''The Register-Guard'' is a daily newspaper in the northwestern United States, published in Eugene, Oregon. It was formed in a 1930 merger of two Eugene papers, the ''Eugene Daily Guard'' and the ''Morning Register''. The paper serves the Eugene- ...

'' article:
People In Sports: Comeback in Cleveland – Jerry Sherk
"''

The Bryan Times ''The Bryan Times'' is a daily newspaper based in Bryan, Ohio Bryan is a city in, and the county seat of, Williams County, Ohio, United States. It is located in the state's northwestern corner, southwest of Toledo. The population was 8,729 a ...

'' article:
Jerry Sherk retires from Browns
"''

Beaver County Times ''The Beaver County Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Beaver, Pennsylvania, United States, and serving the north-western Pittsburgh suburbs. The ''Times'' is a direct descendant of many of Beaver County's newspapers, starting with the '' ...

'' article:
They go about their jobs quietly: Some guys aren't household names
"

College career

Jerry Sherk was born in

Grants Pass, Oregon Grants Pass is the county seat of Josephine County, Oregon, United States. The city is located on Interstate 5, northwest of Medford, along the Rogue River. The population was 39,189 at the 2020 census. History Early Hudson's Bay Company hunt ...

.NFL.com entry fo
Jerry Sherk
He attended Grants Pass High, where he joined the school's

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

and football teams.''

'' article:
People In Sports
" Sherk attended

Grays Harbor College Grays Harbor College is a public community college in Aberdeen, Washington. Founded in 1930, the college sits on a campus overlooking the town of Aberdeen and its seaport on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Additional "learning centers" are locat ...

in Aberdeen, Washington and

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

in Stillwater, Oklahoma. During high school, he played on both the football and

teams in both his junior and senior years. He was an All-Big Eight selection on the gridiron in 1969 and an All-American as a Cowboy grappler in 1969. He was inducted to the Oklahoma State Hall of Honor in 2000. He was the key to the Grays Harbor wrestling teams winning wrestling state titles two years in a row. Individually, he also won back-to-back state titles and in 1968, he pinned every opponent he faced.

NFL career

Sherk was selected in the second round (47th overall) of the

1970 NFL draft The 1970 National Football League Draft was the 35th National Football League Draft and the first of the league's modern era, following the merger of the National Football League with the American Football League. It was held on January 27–28, 1 ...

by the Cleveland Browns.''

The Palm Beach Post ''The Palm Beach Post'' is an American daily newspaper serving Palm Beach County in South Florida, and parts of the Treasure Coast. On March 18, 2018, in a deal worth US$42.35 million, ''The Palm Beach Post'' and ''The Palm Beach Daily News'' we ...

'' article:
Browns' Sherk Retires to Pursue Photography
" His first game was on September 21, 1970, the first regular edition of

Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, AB ...

.''

Montreal Gazette The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...

'' article:
Cosell: Monday night football had rocky start
" He became a starting player immediately, and soon became noted as having a knack for getting to the

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

.''

The Plain Dealer ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In fall 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily and 15th on Sunday. As of Ma ...

'' article:
When They Played the Game: Browns defensive lineman Jerry Sherk
" Sherk was part of an

AFC Central The American Football Conference – Northern Division or AFC North is one of the four divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The division was adopted after the restructuring of the 2002 NFL s ...

Division in which each team boasted

All-Pro All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list th ...

quality defensive tackles: the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

Joe Greene Charles Edward Greene (born September 24, 1946), better known as "Mean" Joe Greene, is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL) from 1969 to 1 ...

, the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

' Mike Reid, and the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 as ...

Curley Culp Curley Culp (March 10, 1946 – November 27, 2021) was an American football defensive lineman who was a defensive tackle in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Arizona State Unive ...

, with Greene and Culp earning enshrinement in the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coach ...

. He was part of a 1972 Browns team that went 10-4 and advanced to the playoffs, losing to the undefeated

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

. Sherk led the Browns in sacks with 10½ sacks and led teams' defensive linemen in

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football ** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking u ...

with 91, after totaling three sacks and 83 tackles in 1970 and 84 tackles with 4 1/2 sacks in 1971. The following year Sherk played in his first

after sacking opposing quarterbacks 5½ times and making 100 tackles, most by any Browns defensive lineman that season. In 1974 Sherk made his second Pro Bowl and led the Browns with 10 sacks to go with his 94 tackles. In 1975 Sherk made his third consecutive Pro Bowl and was named All-AFC. He is known for punching St. Louis Cardinals QB, Jim Hart, in they eye during the Pro Bowl game causing him to leave the game with six stitches above his eye. According to Hart he did not apologize. He matched his own career-high of 100 tackles and recorded six sacks. In 1976 Sherk recorded 12 sacks and 92 tackles and was voted the

NFL Defensive Player of the Year Several organizations give out NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards that are listed in the ''NFL Record and Fact Book'' and ''Total Football II: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League''. The Associated Press (AP) has been givi ...

by the

Newspaper Enterprise Association The Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) is an editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1902. The oldest syndicate still in operation, the NEA was originally a secondary news ...

(NEA). Sherk was a consensus All-Pro, making the AP,

PFWA The Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA), sometimes known as Pro Football Writers Association, is an organization that purports to be " heofficial voice of pro football writers, promoting and fighting for access to NFL personnel to best serve ...

, NEA teams as well as being consensus All-AFC for the second consecutive year. November 14, 1976 he set club record with four sacks in one game. He capped the season off by playing in his fourth consecutive Pro Bowl. At a September 1977

preseason In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

match against the Green Bay Packers, Sherk seriously injured his knee.''

Pittsburgh Press ''The Pittsburgh Press'' (formerly ''The Pittsburg Press'' and originally ''The Evening Penny Press'') was a major afternoon daily newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1884 to 1992. At one time, the ''Press'' was the second larg ...

'' article:
Browns Sherk Injured
" Consequently, he was only able to play in seven games during the 1977 season. NFL.com page:
Jerry Sherk – 1977 stats
He came back in 1978 recording a new career-high in tackles with 105 but only dropped opposing quarterbacks 3 times. During a November 4, 1979 game at

Veterans Stadium Veterans Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, at the northeast corner of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. The seating capacities were 65,358 for footb ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, an infected

boil A boil, also called a furuncle, is a deep folliculitis, which is an infection of the hair follicle. It is most commonly caused by infection by the bacterium ''Staphylococcus aureus'', resulting in a painful swollen area on the skin caused by an ...

on Sherk's arm was scraped off. Bacteria from the field's

Astroturf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Since the early 2000s, AstroTurf has m ...

entered his body through the wound, triggering s

staph infection A staphylococcal infection or staph infection is an infection caused by members of the ''Staphylococcus'' genus of bacteria. These bacteria commonly inhabit the skin and nose where they are innocuous, but may enter the body through cuts or abrasio ...

that traveled to his knee and nearly killed him.''

Toledo Blade ''The Blade'', also known as the ''Toledo Blade'', is a newspaper in Toledo, Ohio published daily online and printed Thursday and Sunday by Block Communications. The newspaper was first published on December 19, 1835. Overview The first issue o ...

'' article:
Knee Infection Puts Sherk Out of Action
" Sherk missed the last six games of the 1979 season. His substitute on the field was

Henry Bradley Henry Bradley, FBA (3 December 1845 – 23 May 1923) was a British philologist and lexicographer who succeeded James Murray as senior editor of the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (OED). Early life Bradley had humble beginnings as a farmer's so ...

. The infection eventually proved to be more problematic than first imagined, and effectively sidelined him for the 1980 season, in which he played in only one game and recorded only one tackle. Sherk's absence prompted the Browns to go to the 3-4 defense in 1980, with Bradley at nose guard. He spent his final season, 1981, as a designated pass rusher, coming in to play defensive tackle when the Browns switched from the 3-4 o a four down lineman

nickel defense American football, a nickel defense (also known as a 4–2–5 or 3–3–5) is any defensive alignment that uses five defensive backs, of whom the fifth is known as a nickelback. The original and most common form of the nickel defense features ...

. In that limited role he recorded 12 tackles and three sacks. In all, Sherk totaled 864 career tackles and 69½ sacks. Along the way, blocked 6 kicks, intercepted three passes, and recovered ten fumbles.

Post NFL career

Photography

After leaving football, Sherk worked as a sports photographer for roughly ten years. His work was featured in ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'', ''Pro! Magazine'', and many newspapers. His photographs from this time period were featured in an exhibition titled ''Through the Eyes of a Defensive Lineman: The Cleveland Browns as Photographed by Jerry Sherk''.Cleveland Touchdown Club page:
The Cleveland Touchdown Club Charities Presents "Through The Eyes of a Defensive Lineman: The Cleveland Browns as Photographed by Jerry Sherk"
.Jerry Sherk Photography:
Events
" The photo show was held December 14, 2010 at

Baldwin Wallace College Baldwin Wallace University (BW) is a private university in Berea, Ohio. It was founded in 1845 as Baldwin Institute by Methodist businessman John Baldwin. The school merged with nearby German Wallace College in 1913 to become Baldwin-Wallace C ...

Berea, Ohio Berea ( ) is a city in Cuyahoga County in the U.S. state of Ohio and is a western suburb of Cleveland. The population was 19,093 at the 2010 census. Berea is home to Baldwin Wallace University, as well as the training facility for the Cleveland ...

, and was sponsored by the Cleveland Touchdown Club Charities.

Mentoring

In 1991 Sherk returned to college, earning a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

counseling psychology Counseling psychology is a psychological specialty that encompasses research and applied work in several broad domains: counseling process and outcome; supervision and training; career development and counseling; and prevention and health. ...

. He began counseling various vulnerable populations, becoming especially interested in working with at-risk children. Along the way he created a school-based group mentoring program that uses sports to teach young people how to reach goals in academics and life.

Personal life

Sherk resides in

Encinitas, California Encinitas (Spanish language, Spanish for "Small Oaks") is a beach city in the North County (San Diego area), North County area of San Diego County, California. Located within Southern California, it is approximately north of San Diego, between ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

county, with his wife Ann.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sherk, Jerry 1948 births Living people American football defensive tackles Cleveland Browns players Oklahoma State Cowboys football players American Conference Pro Bowl players Sportspeople from Grants Pass, Oregon Players of American football from Oregon