Sherry A. Webb, Massachusetts – 2019
Sherry is a 1972 graduate of Bridgewater State University where she majored in health and physical education. Her years of service and advocacy span more than 40 years.
During her 38 year tenure at Smith Academy in western MA she served as a K-12 teacher, coached field hockey, basketball and softball and ultimately became athletic director. She also participated in the Pioneer Valley Interscholastic Athletic Conference and MIAA activities in several leadership roles to advance high school athletics. In addition to coaching, she was a respected and competent official. As a softball and basketball official she was selected to officiate high level games and she believes she may be the only person to have coached and officiated in State Championship contests. Sherry also worked MIAA tournament sites and continues in that capacity today. As a retiree she serves as the waiver coordinator for District F.
Her accolades are many. She credits her student-athletes for providing Smith Academy with 4 state championships in two sports, field hockey and softball. In her career she has coached an Olympian, many college athletes and All-Americans. Her teams won several sectional championships and many league championships.
In addition she:
– has received recognition as Athlete of the Year, John O’Brien Award
– has received a distinguished service award
– was honored by having the Smith Academy Gymnasium named after her
– became the assistant field hockey coach at Mt. Holyoke College after retirement
– has coached several club field hockey teams, has attended National indoor
tournaments, and has attended the National Field Hockey Festival
– was recently honored by the MIAA and New Agenda at National Girls’ and Women in
Sports Day at Faneuil Hall, 2019
Sherry has been invited to speak at many banquets honoring championship teams, at graduations, and has also spoken to college pedagogy and women’s history classes.
“I must add that I have always felt that my leadership role in many venues also set an
example for young men as well as women. Young men need to see that women can be
leaders, can make decisions and can be valuable in the world of athletics.”