Richard Sherman’s parents defend their son in wake of NFC Championship controversy

Richard Sherman’s parents are coming to their son’s defense after his post-game tirade following the NFC Championship made him a lightning rod for controversy.

“People really misunderstand my son,” Sherman’s father Kevin told CBS2 in Los Angeles in an interview Monday. “My son off the field is probably one of the best people you want to know. I mean, everything he does is for other people.”

“He never ceases to amaze me. I’m just elated with joy and so proud of him,” his mother Beverly beams in the interview recorded in their modest Compton, Calif. home soon after their return from Seattle, where they saw Sherman’s late-game tip lead to an interception that cinched the Seahawks’ trip to the Super Bowl.

While the outspoken Sherman’s emotional interview has drawn plenty of criticism and analysis, his father says most people have no idea how generous, intelligent and thoughtful his son is.

Sherman, a 4.0 student at Compton’s Dominguez High School, still returns to speak with students. He was also an Academic All-American at Stanford.

Sherman’s parents say they didn’t see the interview when it aired and had no idea it had become an international issue until much later. They remain surprised by the reaction.

“Everybody knows who he is everywhere I go,” Kevin says. “I would have never guessed this.”