Mama Sherman returns to Super Bowl

There are a lot of mama’s boys who play for the Seahawks, but only one of them is an official Campbell’s Chunky Soup Mama’s Boy.

Richard Sherman and his mother are very close, so of course, she flew from her home in LA to Phoenix to watch her son play in the Super Bowl, along with all of the other moms.

“Mama Lynch, Mama Thomas, Mama Coleman, Mama Irvin – we’re all really, really close. Jermaine Kearse’s mom, Russell’s mom – we’re all starting to get pretty close,” she said.

When I met Beverly Sherman, she was wearing her #25 jersey and dripping in Seahawks jewelry.

“I have a button on of Richard, my son, and then I have a button of Doug Baldwin, my other son. He’s Richard’s teammate from Stanford. Oh, my Mama Sherman necklace – my husband had this made for me for my birthday in August. It’s made out of gold and diamonds. Mama Sherman 2-5. My son Richard bought this for me – a necklace, a Super Bowl ring looks like this. And the ring that I have on, the 12s bought this for me for my birthday. Is that not amazing? This is a world champion Super Bowl fan ring. The bracelets are from the 12s.”

Not only do the 12’s love their Hawks, they also love their mamas.

“They make a lot of earrings and things and they give me this stuff. Not just me, but the other mothers as well. They take care of us. It’s just simply crazy. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

She may be the mama, but her son Richard is about to be a first-time dad. His girlfriend is nine months pregnant with a boy.

“He has not asked me for any advice, but he knows that we’re very big on discipline. Discipline is very important in every household, I feel, but you do it with encouragement and love. But it has to be done.”

As a child, Beverly says Richard was very talkative and he studied broadcasting at Stanford, so she thinks he’ll go into that after he retires from football.

But he’s been playing sports since he was 4 years old.

“When we first signed his oldest brother up to play T-ball, he wasn’t quite old enough, so actually, we tell people all the time that’s where the chip on his shoulder came from. They didn’t allow him to play and he really wanted to play at that time,” says Beverly. “He got really upset. He was mad and he was dragging around this little blue bat I had for him, causing a ruckus.”

I asked Mama Sherman if there’s a dish she cooks that Richard really likes. “Spaghetti. He doesn’t eat anyone else’s spaghetti but mine. It is crazy, but it is what it is. You can take him to a restaurant, you can take him to your house and offer him this type of spaghetti or this type of pasta, and he’s going to tell you, ‘No, I’ll only eat my mom’s spaghetti.’ They’ll just have to find him something else to eat.”

Here in Phoenix, she’s not cooking. She’s focused on her son, her grandson-to-be, and of course, the game.

“Oh my goodness. I’m just on this roller coaster ride. It’s just amazing, incredible to be here a second time. It’s like a dream. I’m having a great time.”