Sherby Presented with Clarkson's Barben Award

Clarkson head coach Casey Jones presents Tom Sherby with the 2011 Arnold H. Barben Award. Photo by Gary Mikel

Thomas A. Sherby was presented the Arnold H. Barben Award July 16 during the Annual Clarkson Hockey Reunion.  

The Arnold H. Barben Award is intended to recognize the important role that hockey has played in the history of the University.  This award is presented to a Clarkson University Varsity C hockey alumnus who has demonstrated outstanding professional achievement, has contributed to the betterment of his community and has worked unselfishly for his alma mater. Helen Barben, of Seneca Falls, New York, established the Barben Award in 1980 in memory of her late husband, a member of the class of 1927.  

A hard-working, steady forward for the Golden Knights from 1953-56, Sherby was an important part of head coach Bill Harrison's teams that compiled a 48-12-2 record during the mid-1950s. As a senior, the Kenmore, New York native played a pivotal role in Clarkson's memorable 1955-56 undefeated season (23-0), recording 23 points on 11 goals and 12 assists playing in all 23 games. Sherby finished his three-year career with the Knights with 55 points on 28 goals and 27 assists through 60 games. 

After graduating from Clarkson in 1956 with a Mechanical Engineering degree, Sherby was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He was initially posted to the Engineering Research and Development Lab at Fort Belvoir, Virginia where he completed the officer’s basic fourteen-week training course. Upon completion of the course he received orders to report to Fort Banks, Massachusetts where he served as Post Quartermaster and Executive Officer. During his stay at Fort Banks he would try out for the U.S. National Hockey team. Unfortunately he did not make the final roster. Sherby completed his military service in late 1958.

After his discharge from the Army, Sherby returned to Buffalo, New York and worked as an Industrial Representative for Mobil Oil. This position was relatively short-lived as he would take a position in 1960 with Clark Brothers Company (Olean, NY) as a Project Engineer. He would remain with Clark Brothers for several years until he received an offer from national Cash Register Company to become Chief Engineer for the Data Processing Division. Between 1966 and 1973, Sherby assumed increasingly responsible positions at NCR as Head of Advanced Hardware Development, head of Product Engineering and General Manager at their Kansas facility.

His next opportunity came in 1975 as Computer Peripherals, Inc. of Minnesota offered him an Executive Vice President position. This was a very brief stay, as within a year he became the Senior Vice President for Operations at Data Products Corporation in California. He remained with Data Products for just under two years until Fairchild Corporations recruited him to become their Senior Vice President for the Systems and Equipment Group. He would remain with Fairchild until 1980.

Having always worked for others, Sherby decided to establish his own company. In 1980 he established STI Venture Fund, which later became T.A. Sherby Incorporated. Sherby was the managing partner of this enterprise. From 1989 through 1997, while involved full time with Knights Technology, a software company serving the process manufacturing and electronic design market providing software services to a number of "Silicon Valley" companies, thereby allowing them to increase yields and better identify product defects. In May of 1997, Electroglas, Inc. acquired Knights Technology in a stock exchange transaction.

While at Clarkson, Sherby was very active on campus. In addition to playing hockey, he participated in ROTC, was a member of Lambda Fraternity and participated in the Varsity "C" Club. His combined college experiences, not the least was his degree in Mechanical Engineering, resulted in fourteen job offers upon graduation.

It is with great pride that Clarkson University recognizes Thomas A. Sherby, Class of 1956, as the twenty-fourth recipient of the Arnold H. Barben Award.

Arnold Barben was instrumental in the elevation of Clarkson hockey from a club sport to the intercollegiate level of competition. He went on to achieve extraordinary success  with Goulds Pumps, Inc., where he was senior vice president and director at the time of his retirement. His professional standards were coupled with a high sense of civic duty, and the Barbens’ have provided generous support to Clarkson for financial assistance to students.

Previous Barben Award Recipients