Max Ray Sherman is a former member of the Texas State Senate from Amarillo

Amarillo, Texas

Amarillo is the 14th-largest city, by population, in the state of Texas, the largest in the Texas Panhandle, and the seat of Potter County. A portion of the city extends into Randall County. The population was 190,695 at the 2010 census...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

. He was also president of West Texas A&M University

West Texas A&M University

West Texas A&M University , part of the Texas A&M University System, is a public university located in Canyon, Texas, a small city south of Amarillo. West Texas A&M opened on September 20, 1910...

 in Canyon

Canyon, Texas

Canyon is a city in Randall County, Texas, United States. The population was 12,875 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Randall County. It is the home of West Texas A&M University and Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum. Palo Duro Canyon State Park is some twelve miles east of Canyon...

, and dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs

Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs

The Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs is a graduate school at The University of Texas at Austin that was founded in 1970 to offer professional training in public policy analysis and administration for students interested in pursuing careers in government and public affairs-related areas...

 at the University of Texas at Austin

University of Texas at Austin

The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...

.

Early years, education, military

Sherman was born in Vilola

Viola, Arkansas

Viola is a town in Fulton County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 381 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Viola is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land.-Demographics:...

 in Fulton County in northern Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

, next to the Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

 state line. As an infant, he moved to the now ghost town

Ghost town

A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...

 of Phillips

Phillips, Texas

Phillips is a ghost town in Hutchinson County, United States.It was founded as Pantex, Texas. In 1938 Pantex and Whittenburg combined. The combined town was renamed Phillips for the dominant employer, the Phillips Petroleum Company by a vote of the people....

 in Hutchinson County

Hutchinson County, Texas

Hutchinson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas in the northern portion of the Texas Panhandle. In 2000, its population was 23,857. Its seat is Stinnett . Hutchinson County is named for Andrew Hutchinson, an early Texas attorney....

 in the Texas Panhandle

Texas Panhandle

The Texas Panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a rectangular area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east...

. At Phillips High School, he was the student body and class president. He received a scholarship from Phillips Petroleum Company and served as a monitor in a freshman dormitory to pay his expenses in attending Baylor University

Baylor University

Baylor University is a private, Christian university located in Waco, Texas. Founded in 1845, Baylor is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.-History:...

 in Waco

Waco, Texas

Waco is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas. Situated along the Brazos River and on the I-35 corridor, halfway between Dallas and Austin, it is the economic, cultural, and academic center of the 'Heart of Texas' region....

. He also sold Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

s door-to-door during the summers. At Baylor, Sherman was elected student body president and designated the "Most Representative" senior male student. He received his Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 degree in 1957 and then enrolled at the University of Texas Law School in Austin

Austin, Texas

Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

, from which he graduated with honors in 1960. He was elected as a permanent officer of his law school class. After graduation, Sherman enlisted in the United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 and was thereafter commissioned as a captain in the Judge Advocate General's Corps

Judge Advocate General's Corps

Judge Advocate General's Corps, also known as JAG or JAG Corps, refers to the legal branch or specialty of the U.S. Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, and Navy. Officers serving in the JAG Corps are typically called Judge Advocates. The Marine Corps and Coast Guard do not maintain separate JAG Corps...

.

Legislator and college official

Upon leaving the army, Sherman joined the Amarillo law firm of Gibson, Ochsner, Adkins, Harlan, and Hankins. In time, he became a partner.

In November 1970, he was elected as a Democrat

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 to the Texas Senate, District 31

Texas Senate, District 31

District 31 of the Texas Senate is a senatorial district that currently serves Andrews, Bailey, Cochran, Crane, Dallam, Deaf Smith, Ector, Gaines, Glasscock, Hansford, Hartley, Hemphill, Howard, Hutchinson, Lipscomb, Martin, Midland, Moore, Ochiltree, Oldham, Parmer, Potter, Randall, Roberts,...

. He defeated the Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 nominee, the conservative Malouf Abraham, Sr.

Malouf Abraham, Sr.

Malouf Abraham, Sr. was a self-made Texas multi-millionaire in the oil and natural gas business and a political and civic leader from Canadian, the seat of Hemphill County in the northeastern Texas Panhandle. He made his fortune in part by leasing mineral rights throughout the eastern Panhandle...

, an oilman and state representative

Texas House of Representatives

The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Texas Legislature. The House is composed of 150 members elected from single-member districts across the state. The average district has about 150,000 people. Representatives are elected to two-year terms with no term limits...

 from Canadian

Canadian, Texas

Canadian is the county seat of Hemphill County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,233 at the 2000 census. It is named for the Canadian River, a tributary of the nearby Arkansas River. Canadian is sometimes called "the oasis of the Texas Panhandle."-History:The trails along the river are...

, the seat of Hemphill County. Sherman received 37,593 votes (52.8 percent) to Abraham's 33,637 (47.2 percent). In that same election, the Houston

Houston, Texas

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

 Democrat Lloyd M. Bentsen defeated future U.S. President George Herbert Walker Bush, then a departing U.S. representative from Houston, for one of the two Texas seats in the U.S. Senate. Sherman served on several Senate committees and was the Senate President Pro Tempore in 1974. During his tenure, Sherman was named "Best Member of the Legislature" by Texas Monthly

Texas Monthly

Texas Monthly is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Austin, Texas. Texas Monthly is published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. and was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy, Texas Monthly chronicles life in contemporary Texas, writing on politics, the environment, industry, and education...

magazine

Magazine

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

.

In 1977, Sherman left the Senate to become president of then West Texas State University. He left the presidency in 1982 to run unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for Texas attorney general, a post vacated by Mark Wells White, who instead ran successfully for governor

Governor of Texas

The governor of Texas is the head of the executive branch of Texas's government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Texas Legislature, and to convene the legislature...

. U.S. Representative Jim Mattox

Jim Mattox

James Albon Mattox was a Dallas lawyer and Texas Democratic politician who served three terms in the United States House of Representatives and two four-year terms as state Attorney General, but lost high profile races for Governor in 1990, the U.S. Senate in 1994, and again as attorney general...

 of Dallas

Dallas, Texas

Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

 won the nomination for attorney general and then defeated in the general election

General election

In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...

 the Republican Bill Meier

Bill Meier

William Carl "Bill" Meier is an attorney and a former member of the Texas State Senate from Hurst in Tarrant County, who holds the world filibuster record in a legislative body. Meier currently serves as a Justice to the Texas Second Court of Appeals.-Biography:Bill Meier was reared in Waco,...

, then a state senator from Tarrant County

Tarrant County, Texas

Tarrant County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, it had a population of 1,809,034. Its county seat is Fort Worth. Tarrant County is the sixteenth most populous county in the United States and the third most populous in Texas. The county is named in honor...

. In 1983, for several months, Sherman worked as special counsel in the administration of Governor White, who had unseated Republican Bill Clements

Bill Clements

William Perry "Bill" Clements, Jr. was the 42nd and 44th Governor of Texas, serving from 1979 to 1983 and 1987 to 1991. Clements was the first Republican to have served as governor of the U.S. state of Texas since Reconstruction...

 of Dallas. In 1983, Sherman was named the dean of the LBJ School in Austin. He retired as administrator in 1997 but retained the chair in state and local government and taught courses thereafter on ethics and government.

Honors and legacy

When Sherman announced his retirement as dean, the Texas Senate passed a resolution to honor him. At the ceremony, the late Senator Teel Bivins

Teel Bivins

Miles Teel Bivins served as United States ambassador to Sweden between 2004 and 2006. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 21, 2004, and sworn in at Washington D.C., on May 26. He presented his credentials to King Carl XVI Gustaf in Stockholm on June 9...

, an Amarillo Republican, described Sherman as "our most distinguished Panhandle resident." In 1988, the Lyndon B. Johnson Library published Sherman's book The Future of Texas. In 2007, Sherman edited the book, Barbara Jordan: Speaking the Truth with Eloquent Thunder, speeches from the late U.S. Representative Barbara Jordan

Barbara Jordan

Barbara Charline Jordan was an American politician who was both a product and a leader, of the Civil Rights movement. She was the first African American elected to the Texas Senate after Reconstruction and the first southern black female elected to the United States House of Representatives...

 of Texas.

In 1998, Sherman was named "Texan of the Year" by the Advisory Committee of the Texas Legislative Conference. In 2000, Sherman, along with Malouf Abraham, Teel Bivins, Texas Railroad Commissioner Ernest O. Thompson

Ernest O. Thompson

Ernest Othmer Thompson was a general in the United States Army during World War I, a mayor of Amarillo, Texas, an attorney, a businessman , and a 32-year member of the Texas Railroad Commission. He was recognized as a world authority on petroleum and natural gas production and conservation...

, Pampa

Pampa, Texas

Pampa is a city in Gray County, Texas, United States. The population was 17,887 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Gray County.Pampa is the principal city of the Pampa Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Gray and Roberts counties....

 founder Timothy Dwight Hobart

Timothy Dwight Hobart

Timothy Dwight Hobart was a Vermont-born businessman, landowner, surveyor, and civic leader in the Texas Panhandle. He lived primarily in Pampa, the seat of Gray County, which he had helped to establish in 1902. He was elected mayor of Pampa in 1927...

, and the Amarillo clergy

Clergy

Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....

man W. Winfred Moore

W. Winfred Moore

William Winfred Moore , the retired pastor of the First Baptist Church of Amarillo, Texas. was president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and, a prominent figure in the Southern Baptist Convention during the second half of the 20th century.-Family and education:Moore was born to the late...

, was named among the "100 Most Influential Persons of the High Plains" in the 20th century.

Sherman in 1961 married the former Gene Alice Wienbroer (born ca. 1937) of Borger

Borger, Texas

Borger is the largest city in Hutchinson County, Texas, United States. The population was 14,302 at the 2000 census. Borger is named for businessman Asa Philip "Ace" Borger, who also established the Hutchinson County seat of Stinnett and several other small towns in Texas and Oklahoma.- History...

, also in Hutchinson County. The couple has two children. Retired in Austin, Sherman has taken up the hobby of fly fishing

Fly fishing

Fly fishing is an angling method in which an artificial 'fly' is used to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. Casting a nearly weightless fly or 'lure' requires casting techniques significantly different from other forms of casting...

.