George Sherman began playing softball in 1963 for Durty Nellies in Palatine. He was nineteen at the time and was playing football for Northern Illinois University, so he could not fully commit to the travel necessary to play full-time for Nellies. After college, he became the quarterback for the Lake County Semi-Professional Football Team, further limiting his softball playing time. Even so, besides Nellies, he played for ten other teams, including the Nomads, Bakers, Scrappers, and the Bruins. He also played in tournaments with many North and Northwest suburban teams. But he never forgot his first team and often came back to Palatine to help Nellies win the Palatine league title thirteen times in eighteen years. Many former players think he played first base and hit to right field better than most players in the game. During the first eighteen years of play, he never hit below .500 and had seven seasons of .600 and three at .700. He led the team in homeruns and RBIs for fifteen and eighteen seasons. He was an All-Tournament player in 1979 and was team MVP with Nellies, Corkers, and Dodge Boys five teams. Besides playing softball, George has also organized, managed, and sponsored teams. He organized sixteeninch and twelve-inch leagues for the Schaumburg Park District. He created a senior indoor program (they played from October through April) for fifty-andolder players. He also helped the Palatine Park District organize their softball programs. As a sponsor, his Bars and Volleyball Club has sponsored more than seventy teams of all levels of softball in leagues throughout the Northwest suburbs. George is a member of Round Lake High School’s Hall of Fame. He played varsity baseball all four years (all-conference his senior year); football three years (all-conference junior and senior years and all-area and honorable mention all-state his senior year), and two years basketball (all-conference senior year). He was a member of the first Round Lake championship team in any sport – basketball in 1962. He coached boys and girls volleyball at Maine South High School (coached Tom Hoff who would become the captain of the USA Olympic Gold Medal Team in China). He also coached girls volleyball at Elk Grove High School, at Palatine High School (five conference championships and two third place finishes in state competition, and boys and girls volleyball at Lake Park High School (six conference championships and two trips to the state semi-finals. He also was the director of Circus Boys Volleyball Club for eighteen years before retiring. He now plays softball for the So Cal, North County Senior Softball Association. George taught mathematics for thirty-six years before retiring in 2002. He now lives in San Diego, California. He has three daughters – Jodie, Betsie, and Katie.
