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Athletic greatness comes in all shapes and all sizes.

It doesn't come naturally, but is achieved from hard work, diligence and adversity along the journey.

There's opportunity and there's always struggle.

There is triumph and there is defeat.

And there is always a story behind the glory.

Legacy, character and tradition.

Three words that describe New Orleans is own Joe Sherman.

He is definitely a man of integrity when it comes to the the athletic program at Delgado Community College.

It's top notch, high caliber because of who he is.

But there's another word that may be the most important family.

That's part of the Sherman's Creed.

You know, the baseball program in Coach Ernie will always, you know, another member of the family.

Joe's love of baseball started at an early age.

Learning the ways of the diamond from his father.

Hall of Famer Rags Sherman.

When I came to Louisiana, one of the guys I met was a young kid while his father coached the team.

Then ultimately, a few years later, he was the coach.

And I met this young man and I said, there's something special about this guy.

Joe Sherman, the longtime and very successful head baseball coach at Delgado Junior College in New Orleans, and no doubt the only one who, in his first game ever as a young coach, asked the opposing coach for his autograph.

Tell me how that came about.

As you and Cleon Jones got together for the first time.

Pretty neat story.

We're taking batting practice and, you know, and I'm I'm nervous as a tick on a dog.

Right?

You know, I'm trying to make sure everything's there, make sure we got the game balls, make sure everything's taken care of.

A one man pony show.

Right?

And I look up and vote is walking down on the field.

And I knew Ron for my time at two when a rock what you do.

And here he goes, mama.

My teammates.

The head coach over there.

Bishop State.

I said the team because yeah Clay.

All jokes.

I said they all told.

Yeah.

This is from the historic 1969.

That's that's correct.

That's correct.

How did he react when you asked him for his autograph?

I think I think he really thought I was pranking him because Swoboda was there, you know, you kind of you kind of looked around, said, no, no, sorry.

I'm I'm serious.

This is my my first my first game.

And I'd be honored if you sign up.

Called for me.

He took it.

Me silent umpire goes.

That's a first for me too.

You still have it?

Actually lost it.

The old Katrina.

Oh, my house flooded.

Too bad, but the story lives.

Yeah.

Great stuff, great story.

I kind of wish that, you know, I think Cleon is still with us.

I kind of wish I'd meet him again and get him to do it again for me.

35 consecutive seasons later, the winning tradition of Delgado baseball is recognized by college baseball fans across the nation.

It's his work.

It's his grit.

It's his grind.

He has elevated Delgado Community College to the next level.

14 consecutive NJCAA regional titles, 17 super regional berths, five trips to the JuCo World Series and in 2025, eclipsing more than 1200 career victories, with his 12 hundredth win coming on the birthday of his father, rags.

If you don't think there's baseball gods, I mean those baseball gods, they make, those kind of things happen there.

I mean, obviously I wouldn't be here without without my dad in the hills.

Not only is his tutelage, but his influence.

When I told him I wanted to be a coach, he said, I think you probably need to look to do something else.

You know, he he really discouraged me from being a coach.

You've had a long association with the Sugar Bowl.

I started working when I was 13 years old.

You know, I was a mail carrier delivering, newspapers that were, like, three days old and telegrams.

And that's how it all started.

Right.

Walters, who was the associate editor at Tulane at the time, offered me the director of the Green Wave Club's job, said, man, coach, I really appreciate that offer.

I said, but I think I want to be a coach.

If a one the been for the basketball scandal at Tulane, I probably would have never been a coach because what happened when I graduated in 84, the basketball scandal hit in 85, right?

You know, they obviously dropped basketball, a suspended basketball.

And when they did that, they increased the baseball budget.

And I was a two year letterman.

And Joe Brock, off the head baseball coach at Tulane, gave me an opportunity to be the assistant baseball coach.

And that's how I got involved in baseball.

Let's go back to 2005.

Hurricane Katrina demolishes the baseball field at Delgado, and the future of the program was very much in doubt.

And there is a very inspirational story that follows.

Again, ironically, I'm in Baton Rouge, we evacuate to Baton Rouge and we're in the lobby of the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

And they had lost a power, but they had a TV set up and they show an overhead photo of Ted going with football stadium, which is literally three blocks from my stadium, and the water is up to the crossbar.

And I looked at herb and I looked at my wife.

I said, you know what that means, She goes, I think in my wife's mind, the water was just trapped in there, you know, like a tub has a chilled it is 12ft of water.

And I enable it because we literally lived across the street.

Fast forward a month later.

We're trying to pick up the pieces.

We had then moved our headquarters.

So when I say we.

Delgado had moved his head quarters, the Baton Rouge Community Colleges campus and the, president, chancellor and vice chancellor were operating the business out of there.

And I went to him.

I said, hey, I know you all got a lot on your plate.

What about athletics?

I'll never forget my vice chancellor, said Joe.

There's no way, you know, we'll be able to fund athletics.

So I let a couple days go by, and I was commuting back and forth from New Roads to Baton Rouge because I relocated to new roads, and I saw the Chancellor by himself.

One day I said, Doctor Johnson, get you here for a second thought.

If I raise the money, could I, you know, try to have a program.

But now it's all on your plate.

Yeah.

He says, look, you raise the money.

He goes, you know, we'll scholarship your kids, obviously, but we're not going to be able to.

I said, okay, no biggie.

You know, a couple weeks go by, we finally get back to town.

And like October 17th, 18th, we're back on campus.

And I mean, I walked in and it was like, oh my God, the low poles or I am on the field.

It's I mean, like Blake has scared me.

So we have it.

I said, probably bit off a little too much or two here, but we had gotten our club together, and the one good thing is 99% of our kids were from the greater New Orleans area, either the city itself or matter.

We are Chalmette.

We had had a team meeting.

I said, hey, well, first thing we gotta do, so we've got to clean up our mess.

Let's go over to the field.

Each day.

We'll meet.

We'll decide what we're going to do, but let's start by cleaning the field up.

So each day we do, a little steward care pulls up.

So I well, I walked over, made my way to the to the cabinet.

Gentlemen.

Richard Colton was in the cab who said, man, I read the article in the paper.

Y'all trying to put this together, Said yeah.

So we got a long way to go, Mr.

Cole.

And I said, you know, just start with the facility.

I said, but I got raise, kind of raise $50,000 gets it.

The game goes off the next day.

Here comes the kicker.

Scuse me.

This warms your heart, doesn't it?

Cab pulls up.

I go out there thinking it's Mr.

Cole, just a cab driver, he said, Mr.

Colton wanted to give you this envelope.

Open it up.

$50,000.

Check.

That's history.

The magic word is tradition.

And, you know, the expectation is that it's a pass it all mentality.

You know, it's up to the southpaws to teach the freshmen.

And then, you know, the program just turns over pretty much half the roster every year.

And that's that's the beauty and the downfall of, you know, this level of baseball and junior college athletics.

And while the winds are nice, it shows leadership that has helped not only athletes in the Crescent City, but also countless young men and women grow and succeed in life.

He's my go to when it's a good day.

It's my go to when it's a bad day because nine times out of ten, he knows someone that can help me move the initiatives and priorities of the college forward.

So that's leadership.

Without a doubt.

He's built not just players, but the facility at the junior college as well.

So he's been a superstar for Louisiana baseball and certainly a Hall of Famer.

My grandmother had a saying that you don't raise your family for yourself.

You raise your family for others.

I think that's been the mantra for for many, many years unspoken.

That servant leadership that that's been a steady presence not just for my dad's career, but, you know, generational.

The family tradition continues.

Joining his dad, rags has only the fourth father son combination to be enshrined in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

I don't plan know, the 19 anniversary of nine.

I had kids really come on.

But I you.

But it was 35 years ago that your father rags, announced his retirement during his Hall of Fame induction here in Natchitoches.

And of course, that led to your being eventually earning the job there and following him.

But 35 years ago, he made that his story.

Yeah.

Well, I like today we caravan up here with 2 or 3 different colors.

We got out the car at the convention center and, walking in and rags pulls me on the side.

He said, hey, listen, I just I don't want to shock you, but, I'm going to announce my retirement tonight, so what are you talking about?

He goes, yeah, he goes, mom and I talked about this.

I think this would be the best time.

I'm going to do it.

The ceremony.

Where where do you stand right now on potentially leaving the dugout?

I've been asked that a lot lately.

Lynn, I think all these awards kind of make you think career and make myself think that, hey, man, maybe people are thinking I'm getting too old for this.

But to be quite honest with you, full of energy and good Lord is still giving me my health.

You know, and as long as I have those two things, the energy and the health, and as long as my players still respond to me, I'm going to stay in it.

I got some goals off and some things that I want to get accomplished at school.

Obviously I'd like to try to win a national championship.

That's that's in my head every day.

But facility wise, we want to still get some things done.

We just got finished completing the game one time.

Benson Athletic Complex at school, which is about a $2.2 million building, which is second to none.

Any junior colleges in the country wish they had this.

And that's something we're very proud of.

Yeah, I tell everybody Katrina's demise was really a renaissance for my baseball program.

The basketball story at Tulane was a demise for everybody, was a renaissance for me.

Gave me a rebirth.

Got me in the coach and good man upstairs looks after me.