My favorite Sherman story:

In the early 80’s at US West, the IT Accounting group was in the process of “Closing the Books” for the year. The Comptroller was waiting for the numbers, AT&T was waiting for US West’s numbers, shareholder dividends needed to be calculated. And the system hung. Escalation protocol went into effect – we needed to fix the problem ASAP. Call outs started. Sherman was on the senior team but at his home only a baby sitter answered. Where was Sherm? After providing our bona fides, she disclosed that he and Julie had gone to the movies. The problem was complex so I corralled one of the onsite techs who could explain the situation, and we headed for the theater. There he was, in line about ten people back from the ticket booth. It was “Raging Bull” and this was to be a special date night for them. But the minute Sherm understood the situation, he left that line and fast walked with us back to the US West headquarters. I forget whether Julie went on to the movie but he was so excited to be in the middle of that problem-solving team. They worked day and night, with management breathing down their necks, and finally found a bug in the seven year-old system accounting system – never before snagged by any of the other 22 Bell companies. A unique problem and they solved it! And Sherm so enjoyed the challenge and success of doing that. I would give anything to be on his team again.

Karen Buschow Stephens