LEAVENWORTH, Kan. — Former Platte County football coach Chip Sherman was named the Dave Bassore Coach of the Year in Kansas.
He was presented with the award named after the late William Jewell head coach during the Greater Kansas City Football Coaches Association All-Star Game on Thursday, June 14 in Leavenworth, Kan.
Sherman, who retired from Platte County in 2008, just finished his fifth year at Olathe Northwest. Prior to that, he served as Shawnee Mission East’s head coach for five years.
CODY THORN/Citizen photo
Former Platte County football coach Chip Sherman, left, receives the Dave Bassore Kansas Coach of the Year Award on Thursday, June 14 in Leavenworth, Kan. The award is presented by the Greater Kansas City Football Coaches Association.
“It is great,” he said of the honor. “It represents a lot of people that helped us get this way. I knew Dave real well. He was a good guy and a good man. He is what a coach is supposed to be about.”
Sherman joined the GKCFCA’s Hall of Fame in 2015 as a coach, one of seven different Halls of Fame he is in. He noted that the most special though is the Platte County Hall of Fame, where his son, Zach, is also a member after a standout career as a running back.
Sherman once guided the Missouri All-Stars in this GKCFCA Missouri vs. Kansas game, leading Missouri to a 28-14 win in 2002.
Sherman guided Platte County to three straight state titles — 2000 to 2002 — and had a 52-game winning streak. He was 197-33 guiding the Pirates.
After 40 years coaching, Sherman will be taking this fall off as he is battling cancer for the second time. Five years ago he had non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
“This is it, I’m taking a year off with some of the cancer procedure,” said Sherman, who still resides in Platte County, not far from Platte City, about not coaching this upcoming season. “We are doing experimental stuff with stem cells. It is working. I feel good. I haven’t felt this good in years.”