John Sherman worked the impossible but laudatory trifecta: He coached basketball successfully as a mentor and leader at Oxford, Lafayette and Water Valley.

Think about that. Over a basketball coaching career that spanned multiple schools in Mississippi, including a stint at the college level at Mississippi State, Sherman put a successful footprint on our three area schools.

He won a state championship at Oxford, and he won praise at every stop for being the consummate professional leader.

All we can ask of our teachers and coaches is to make our children strive to be their very best, and Sherman spent decades in this area doing just that. When he first arrived as a young coach at Oxford he was known as a fiery competitor who understood both X’s and O’s and the individuality of players.

At the end of his coaching career, he will be remembered as a mentor and the consummate professional who always kept the players best interest at heart. He just wanted to see them succeed and be the best people they could be.

Sherman is not going away. He still has a business in Oxford and a footprint that will long have a place. But we want to recognize the moment of his retirement from Lafayette High School with appropriate candor.

He is a winner in this community, and always will be remembered for the contributions he made as a coach and mentor.