John Andrew Cherberg (October 17, 1910 – April 8, 1992) was an American politician, football coach, teacher and television executive. He served as the 13th
lieutenant governor of Washington from 1957 to 1989, a longer tenure than any other lieutenant governor in the state's history. Previously he was head coach of the
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...
football team from 1953 to 1955, compiling a record of 10–18–2. Two decades earlier he had been a
college football
College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...
player at Washington.
Early life and career
Born in
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola ( ) is a city in the Florida panhandle in the United States. It is the county seat and only incorporated city, city in Escambia County, Florida, Escambia County. The population was 54,312 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...
in 1910, Cherberg was the youngest of twelve children from a butcher father who emigrated from
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
, then a part of
Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
.
In 1919, his family moved to
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
,
Washington.
He played football at
Queen Anne High School before graduating in 1929. He attended the
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...
(UW) and played
halfback on the
football team
A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...
.
Cherberg graduated in 1933 with a degree in economics.
After graduation, he taught classes and coached football at
Cleveland
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
and Queen Anne high schools in Seattle, where he led both schools to state football championships.
He joined the UW football staff in 1946.
The three seasons he served as head coach of the UW football team were controversial. His record of 10 wins, 18 losses, and 2 ties was identified as the second-worst in Seattle's history in a 2006 article by ''
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States.
Th ...
'' columnist Jim Moore. The team was involved in a payoff scandal that led to
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
sanctions for the school and the firing of Cherberg in February 1956.
Political career
In June 1956 Cherberg announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor. Capitalizing on name recognition from his football career and the statewide contacts he had developed as the head of the state's association of high school football coaches, he won the Democratic primary by defeating
Howard S. Bargreen, and the general election by defeating Republican Don McDermott.
Cherberg was inaugurated as Washington's lieutenant governor on January 16, 1957, under fellow
Democrat Albert Rosellini
Albert Dean Rosellini (January 21, 1910 – October 10, 2011) was an American politician who served as the List of governors of Washington, 15th governor of Washington from 1957 to 1965 and was both the first Italian Americans, Italian-Americ ...
. For his first 15 years in office, he also worked as an account executive at Seattle-area TV station
KIRO to supplement his then-low lieutenant governor salary.
Cherberg ran for
Mayor of Seattle
The Mayor of Seattle is the Head of government, head of the executive branch of the Government of Seattle, city government of Seattle, Washington. The mayor is authorized by the city charter to enforce laws enacted by the Seattle City Council, a ...
in 1964, but was defeated by
Republican councilman
Dorm Braman by 95,699 votes to his 83,205. Cherberg's platform included support for
fair housing. Years later, both he and Braman testified for the prosecution regarding the mayoral race and money from Seattle police officials and
King County Prosecuting Attorney Chuck Carroll, who were alleged to have been tolerating police corruption. (The case was later dismissed.)
Following his defeat in the mayoral campaign, he once again ran for lieutenant governor. He served continuously under
Republican governor
Daniel J. Evans (1965–1977), Democrat
Dixy Lee Ray (1977–1981), Republican
John Spellman (1981–1985), and for the first term of Democrat
Booth Gardner (1985–1989). In his last race, he won comfortably with 63% of the vote.
Cherberg stepped down in the 1988 race having served as lieutenant governor for nearly one third of Washington state's history at the time; at his death, he was the longest serving lieutenant governor in United States history.
Death

Cherberg lived in Seattle until his death from pneumonia at age 81 in 1992.
He was interred at
Calvary Cemetery,
about a mile (1.6 km) northeast of the University of Washington campus. The John A. Cherberg Building, which houses
Washington State Senate
The Washington State Senate is the upper house of the Washington State Legislature. The body consists of 49 members, each representing a district with a population of nearly 160,000. The State Senate meets at the Washington State Capitol, Legis ...
offices at the
State Capitol campus, was renamed in his honor.
Head coaching record
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cherberg, John
1910 births
1992 deaths
American athlete-politicians
High school football coaches in Washington (state)
Lieutenant governors of Washington (state)
Washington Huskies football coaches
Washington Huskies football players
Players of American football from Seattle
American people of Croatian descent
Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Seattle)
20th-century Washington (state) politicians