Milton "Sharm" Scheuerman (May 16, 1934 – August 30, 2010) was an American

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

player and coach for the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

. Scheuerman was born in

Moline, Illinois Moline ( ) is a city in Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. With a population of 42,985 in the 2020 census, it is the largest city in Rock Island County and the List of municipalities in Illinois, ninth-most populous in Illinois outside ...

, and grew up in Rock Island, one of the

Quad Cities The Quad Cities is a region of five cities (originally Tri-Cities, later four, see #History, History) in the U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois: Davenport, Iowa, Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, Bettendorf (the fifth to be included) in southeaster ...

. He was born to Milton Scheuerman and Lois Anderson. He had one younger brother Thomas. After a strong high school basketball career at

Rock Island High School Rock Island High School, also known as "Rocky", is a public four-year high school located in Rock Island, Illinois, United States. Rocky is within the Rock Island–Milan School District 41, and the school colors are crimson and gold. Administr ...

, Scheuerman chose to play college basketball for coach Bucky O'Connor at

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

. There, he was started for some of the most successful teams in program history, winning two

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

titles and advancing to the national Final Four in 1955 and

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

. The starting unit for these teams were known as the "Fabulous Five" as they started as a unit from their

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of Post-secondary school, post-secondary educatio ...

to their

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

seasons.

Coaching career

Following the close of his college career, Scheuerman was hired as an assistant coach by his mentor Bucky O'Connor, then was hired as head coach in 1958 when O'Connor was killed at the age of 44 in an automobile accident. At 24, Schuerman was the youngest head basketball coach in Big Ten history and one of the youngest in college basketball overall. In six years as the Hawkeyes' head coach, Scheuerman's teams compiled a record of 72–69. Hall of Famer

Don Nelson Donald Arvid Nelson (born May 15, 1940) is an American former professional basketball player and head coach. Nelson is second all-time in regular season wins of any coach in NBA history, with 1,335 (he held the record for most wins for almost 12 ...

was recruited to Iowa by Scheuerman, as was Hall of Famer

Connie Hawkins Cornelius Lance "Connie" Hawkins (July 17, 1942 – October 6, 2017) was an American professional basketball player. A New York City playground legend, "the Hawk" was to play basketball for the Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball, Iowa Hawkeyes but wa ...

. Nelson, also from Rock Island High School, left Iowa as the school's all-time leading scorer, before winning five NBA championships with the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

and then retiring as the all-time wins leader among NBA coaches. Scheuerman had Bob King on his Iowa staff from 1960 to 1962. Scheuerman resigned at Iowa coach in 1964 to enter private business. "What I remember most about it is playing for Sharm and our relationship over 50 years and how close we were and how much I loved that man,” Nelson said in 2012 of Scheuerman. “A role model certainly, but I could never duplicate that man’s life because he was so special. I certainly tried. I’m certainly a better person just by knowing him and talking to him. But we spent a lot of time together over the last 50 years.” Scheuerman settled in

Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, after coaching. He died on August 30, 2010, after a long battle with cancer.

Head coaching record

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scheuerman, Sharm 1934 births 2010 deaths American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Illinois Basketball players from Illinois College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Deaths from cancer in Colorado Educators from Illinois Guards (basketball) Iowa Hawkeyes baseball players Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball coaches Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball players Sportspeople from Moline, Illinois Sportspeople from Rock Island, Illinois 20th-century American sportsmen