Roger Sherman ( American football ) Roger Sherman ( January 4 , 1872 – January 20 , 1957 ) was an American football player , coach and lawyer . He played college football for the University of Michigan from 1890 to 1893 and coached the University of Iowa football team in 1894 . In late 1895 , he was implicated in a series of articles by Caspar Whitney alleging that the schools of the Western Conference had been corrupted by " professionalism " involving the payment of money to athletes for their services in playing football . Sherman practiced law in Chicago , Illinois , and served as a master of chancery of the Superior Court and president of the Chicago Bar Association and Illinois State Bar Association . Biography . Early years . Sherman was born in Chicago , Illinois , in 1872 and attended Chicago ' s Hyde Park High School . He played two years of football for Hyde Park in the Cook County High School League . He was captain of a Hyde Park team that " was never defeated and won the pennant . " Michigan . Sherman enrolled at the University of Michigan , where he played at the quarterback and end positions for the Michigan Wolverines football team in 1890 , 1891 and 1893 . At 5 feet , 7 inches , he was the shortest player on the Michigan team . In November 1891 , the " Chicago Daily Tribune " wrote : " Sherman at quarter back , although not a swift passer , is cool - headed and is nearly always to be found near the ball . " While attending the University of Michigan , Sherman was also a member of the school ' s banjo club . In April 1892 , Sherman performed with Michigan ' s banjo and glee clubs at Chicago ' s Central Music Hall . At the time , the " Chicago Daily Tribune " reported : " Sherman is equally handy at football or at a banjo , but , as the former game is out of season , it is reasonable to suppose that his present efforts in Chicago will be confined to music . " Sherman completed five years ' of study in four years , earning a bachelor ' s degree in 1894 while simultaneously completing the first year of law school . Iowa . In 1894 , Sherman was hired as the head football coach at the University of Iowa . One of Sherman ' s players , Michael L . McKinley , recalled : " In 1894 the athletic committee made arrangements with Roger Sherman , a famous Michigan end , to coach the team for the fall season . " Sherman coached the entire team at Iowa — line , ends and backs . He led the Hawkeyes to a 4 – 4 – 1 record in his one year as head coach . 1895 recruiting scandal . In the fall of 1895 , Caspar Whitney wrote a series of articles in " Harper ' s Weekly " contending that " professionalism " had corrupted collegiate athletics among the Western Conference schools , including Wisconsin , Northwestern , Minnesota and Michigan . One of Whitney ' s accusations was that Sherman , who he described as " Michigan ' s manager , " had on October 6 , 1895 , while riding on a Chicago cable car , offered a Chicago Athletic Association player named Stevenson the sum of $ 600 to finish the season with the Michigan team . Sherman denied Whitney ' s charge in an interview with the " Chicago Daily Tribune " : " Stevenson had said he expected to go to Michigan to take a law course , and it was naturally expected he would join the team . When the Michigan team went into training at Omena early in the season , it was expected Stevenson would join the team , and when it was learned he would play for the athletic association Baird , the manager , wrote to me to see him and find out if he was coming to Michigan . I went to the Athletic club to see him and met him starting for a game at the Athletic Association field . I got on the car and rode with him and had a talk with him . I wanted to know if he was going to Michigan , as they had expected him . I made him no offer and held out no inducements to him , as I had no authority to do so , even had I wanted to , from Baird or any one else . " Michigan supporters denied Whitney ' s charges and , as proof that Whitney ' s account was wild and unreliable , noted that he had erroneously identified Sherman as Michigan ' s manager . Whitney stood his ground and explained : " As to Stevenson , I have charged he was offered $ 600 by Roger Sherman , as manager of the Michigan team , to play with that eleven . I erred in an immaterial detail , which Michigan men have seized upon in order to dodge the issue . They deny that he made such an offer , or that he was manager of the eleven . The facts are as follows : Sherman managed the summer trip and training of the team at Omena , a summer resort on Traverse Bay , Michigan . Charles Baird was the regular manager , and was the one who originally conducted the negotiations with Stevenson , which Sherman knew about and talked over with Stevenson in the Chicago cable car Oct . 5 , 1895 . Mr . Sherman admitted this to me before a witness in Chicago Dec . 17 , 1895 . Mr . Sherman is a young lawyer of excellent repute and will not deny this statement . Besides , Stevenson has admitted it . " Later , Sherman responded by challenging the assertion that matters were purer in the East and with a pragmatic defense of professionalism as " an evil , but not an unmixed evil , " and " a bad means to a good end . " In an essay published by " The Inlander " , Sherman wrote : " In order to get the support of the college body and the public in general a team must first win at almost any cost . Students will not support a losing team be it ever so pure , nor will the public pay to see such a team play ball . . . . To declare for purity at the outset means a weak team and , as a consequence , defeat and lack of support , moral and financial , for years to come , maybe for ever . The power that a manager has to help men through college , if judiciously exercised , is productive of a great deal of good . Many of the best players are in the neediest of circumstances . It is only right that they should be helped through college in return for their sacrifices on the football field . . . . The actual facts in this case are these : The most successful teams in the country today have built up their reputations and their successes by the judicious expenditure of money in securing the services of good players . That nearly all of them cling to this practice is well known to those who are in the possession of the true state of facts . " Legal career . Sherman enrolled at the Northwestern University School of Law and received a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1895 . He began the practice of law in Chicago with his father , Penoyer L . Sherman , a master in the chancery court . In 1897 , he practiced law with two other attorneys in the firm of Church , McMurdy & Sherman . Sherman was active in politics in Chicago ' s Sixth Ward and was appointed master in chancery of the Superior Court in 1906 . He served as a chancery master from 1906 to 1907 and as the Assistant State ' s Attorney in Chicago from 1907 to 1908 . As of 1918 , he was in private practice as one of three partners in the firm of Tenney , Harding & Sherman . He later served as the president of the Chicago Bar Association ( 1922 – 1923 ) and president of the Illinois State Bar Association ( 1923 – 1924 ) . He continued in private practice for many years thereafter with the firm of Tenney , Sherman , Rogers & Guthrie . Later years . In his later years , Sherman lived at 213 Linden Street in Winnetka , Illinois . He also had a winter home in Pompano Beach , Florida . In 1957 , Sherman died at age 85 at his winter home in Pompano Beach . He was survived by his wife , the former Grace Buttolph , and two daughters , Mrs . Philip M . Watrous and Mrs . Robert K . Vincent .