While a student at East Technical High School in 1953, Sherlie Herford Rainey became the National AAU Champion in the Standing Broad Jump with an 8′-11″ leap. Winning the championship 3 out of 4 times, in 1958 she set a new American record of 9′-½”. She was voted the Outstanding Female Athlete in the 1957 K of C Track Meet and garnered AAU All-American Honors in 1955, 1957 and 1958. A graduate of Cleveland State University, Sherlie served as Mayor of Woodmere Village from 1980 to 1989.