For Richard Sherman, one of the more memorable moments to come from Kam Chancellor's annual 'Bam Bam Spring Jam' centered on one fan's reaction to meeting the Seahawks cornerback.
During Saturday's celebrity basketball game held at Old Dominion University in Chancellor's hometown of Norfolk, Virginia, Sherman was introduced to a longtime admirer. Shots of the interaction posted on social media showed a young boy fighting back tears of joy as he posed for a photograph with Sherman, who labeled it "a really cool moment" that "kind of takes you back to when you were a little kid."
"He had been through a lot in his life and he kind of looked to me for inspiration academically and athletically, and he started to do a lot better," Sherman recalled Wednesday following the fifth of Seattle's Organized Team Activities. "The kid started to cry and the mom kind of started to cry and you just kind of remember, it kind of gives you a perspective of the impact you have on these kids. I remember meeting Magic Johnson when I was a kid and having a similar feeling, just in awe and just not having any words to say.
"To think you can have that kind of impact on a kid it really pushes you to work harder and it's humbling."
Fans on the other side of the country aren't the only kids that Sherman is impacting. At home, he and his fiancée Ashley recently welcomed a daughter, Avery, into the world. When paired with the couple's son Rayden, who was born shortly after Super Bowl XLIX, it's been an addition that's afforded Sherman very little shut-eye, and not in the same sense as quarterback Russell Wilson's "There's no time to sleep" slogan.
"Three hours of sleep last night, two kids of your own," Sherman said. "One's kicking you in the back of the head, the other one's screaming. But yeah, it's one-on-one coverage. They say I don't play man-to-man? Come on now. Let them say I don't play man-to-man now."
