Featured Photo by Noma Photography
Story by Jacob Burgess
John Sherman III was a senior in high school when running at the next level was proposed to him. He was one of the fastest high school sprinters in Tennessee, Middle Tennessee coach Keith Vroman said. MTSU reached out during the fall of his senior year, recruiting him to run for the university.
In his senior year of high school, Sherman III finished second in the 100-meter and 200-meter race in the state championship meet. Between the state championships and the start of college, the idea of running at the international level started to form.
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Sherman’s father was born in Liberia in 1977, to John Sherman Sr. and Kellita Sherman. Sherman Sr. was the minister of commerce and an accomplished athlete at the University of Liberia.
In 1980, a coup d’état overthrew the government and executed the president and cabinet ministers including Sherman Sr., forcing Kellita Sherman and Sherman Jr to flee Liberia.
Kellita Sherman was forced to send Sherman Jr. to the U.S. alone at three years old. Kellita Sherman was unable to reunite with her son for another three years while getting political asylum.
In 2018, Sherman Jr went back to Liberia to bury Kellita Sherman, during that time Sherman Jr obtained a copy of his birth certificate. The certificate became instrumental in allowing Sherman III to run for Liberia at the international level.
“I would say hey he (Sherman Jr) was looking out for you (John III) even then and didn’t know that would something he would need to be able to represent Liberia and was proof that his father was a natural born Liberian citizen,” Michelle Sherman said.
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Sherman III grew up running, running around the house, the playground and wherever he could find.
One of those places was the football field, but football did not last long. Ask Sherman III because he got his first injury and Michelle Sherman, his mom, said he couldn’t play anymore. Ask his mother and it’s because Sherman III wasn’t a fan of getting hit.
From then on, Sherman III only ran track. Starting at eight years old, he would run with Rutherford County Track Club (RCTC), Michelle Sherman said.
“I do remember racing on the playground just but first organized race meet, I was devastated because you come in there you think you are the fastest, but you know there is somebody faster than you and that is what track kind of pushed me into it’s like you’re not the fastest you got to keep working and keep training so,” Sherman III said. “First race I remember I had to like these high pulled socks on, and you know I was just going out there just trying to give it my all.”
His coaches at RCTC would be key for the future as Ayo Dele Ekadi and Roland McGhee had the connections to the Liberian track team and MTSU, respectfully.
When Sherman III was hearing from MTSU was also when he first landed on Liberian track coach, Sayon Cooper’s radar.
Ekadi and Cooper are both Liberians who run their own AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) track team, they met on the circuit where Ekadi told Cooper about John, Cooper said.
Cooper reached out to the Sherman family in his senior year of high school jump starting the process of Sherman III to run for Liberia, Michelle Sherman said.
“John ran those times in the state championship I think it was a 10.32 and a 20.89 I think in the 200 then the coach “hey you need to keep an eye” and what we were thinking was that John would run in the under 20, that is really basically what was projecting him, because they contacted us probably the fall of 2023, we were thinking he was going to run in the under 20 world game championships because he was 18 at the time and I didn’t hear anything from them and then all of a sudden they contacted us and said, hey can he go to Ghana for the African championships,” Michelle Sherman said.
Sherman III call up to the African championships would be his first international meet in which the Liberian men’s relay team qualified for the Olympics after finishing third.
While in Ghana, it became apparent Sherman III would be able to handle running at the international level.
His first time on the international stage was filled with pressure and surrounded by excitement but was a good learning experience for him and the teachings from his teammates, Sherman III said.
The African Games set him up to where the Olympics weren’t a daunting idea having the international experience with the national team, Sherman III said.
“The biggest worry I had was I don’t want to not put it all on the track, it’s just like you are going to the Olympics this is the pinnacle of athletics and if you don’t leave it on the track that is going to suck you are going to regret that,” Sherman III said.
Sherman’s III’s future has plenty of opportunities to continue racing. Entering his sophomore season at MTSU and in the mix for the Liberian team being only 19 years old.
Track doesn’t last forever so the focus is on education, which he is reminded of often, Sherman III said.
“For me school is the biggest thing, just trying to finish that and right now I’m studying aerospace maintenance management, I just want to get my degree and have that to fall back on because you know like they say, track isn’t forever, athletics isn’t forever, sports isn’t forever eventually you have got to do something else that was the biggest thing he said there, he (Cooper) wants us all to graduate, he wants us all to get a degree and get an education,” Sherman III said.
Jacob Burgess is the lead sports reporter for MTSU Sidelines.
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