Joel Sherman (born 1962), nicknamed "GI Joel", is a top American

Scrabble ''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, read left t ...

expert and former world champion. He is chronicled in Stefan Fatsis's book ''

Word Freak ''Word Freak'' is a non-fiction narrative by Stefan Fatsis published in 2001 (). The book is subtitled ''Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive SCRABBLE Players''. Fatsis, a sports reporter for ''The Wall Street ...

'', in Eric Chaikin's film ''

Word Wars ''Word Wars'' is a 2004 documentary film directed by Eric Chaikin and Julian Petrillo about competitive Scrabble playing. Its full title is: ''Word Wars - Tiles and Tribulations on the Scrabble Circuit''. The film was an official selection at th ...

'', and in Scott Petersen's film ''Scrabylon''. He is also mentioned in Collins Gem's reference book. He was born in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, New York, and is an alumnus of the

Bronx High School of Science The Bronx High School of Science, commonly called Bronx Science, is a public specialized high school in The Bronx in New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Admission to Bronx Science involves passing the Sp ...

. His nickname is derived from a health problem, gastrointestinal reflux syndrome, and a pun on the

G.I. Joe ''G.I. Joe'' is an American media franchise and a line of action figures owned and produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier ( U.S. Army), Ac ...

action figure. Sherman's major Scrabble tournament victories include: * 1997 World Scrabble Championship - Washington, D.C. * 1998 Brand's Crossword Game King's Cup * 2002 National Scrabble Championship - San Diego, California * 2018 North American Scrabble Championship - Buffalo, New York Since beginning his career in 1988, he has played at least 4,750 tournament games, winning about 64%, and earning at least $135,000 in prize money. He is director of NASPA Games Club #56, which meets on Thursday evenings in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Sherman holds the record for the highest score recorded in a tournament game played with the North American lexicon, having defeated Bradley Robbins 803-285 at a tournament in Stamford, Conn., on December 9, 2011.

References

External links

*
"Newbie's First Scrabble Lesson"
by Joel R. Sherman {{DEFAULTSORT:Sherman, Joel American Scrabble players Living people World Scrabble Championship winners The Bronx High School of Science alumni 1962 births