As a coach, Sharman won titles in the ABL, ABA, and NBA, and is credited with introducing the now-ubiquitous morning shootaround.

Sharman was the first North American sports figure to win a championship as a player, coach, and executive.

[1][2] Sharman is also a two-time Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, having been inducted in 1976 as a player, and in 2004 as a coach.

[3] Only John Wooden, Lenny Wilkens, Tommy Heinsohn and Bill Russell share this double honor.

[5][6][7][8] He was a 15-letter athlete at PHS, excelling in basketball and baseball, competing in track, and winning the state amateur tennis title.

[6][7][4][5] Sharman died one day before his induction into the inaugural class of the Porterville High Athletic Hall of Fame.

[12] Following his senior year, Sharman was selected as a member of the 1950 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans, first team, along with his future Boston Celtic teammate Bob Cousy.

[13] Sharman played USC basketball under Hall of Fame head coach Sam Barry.

[5] However, Sharman knew he had been taken by the Washington Capitols in the NBA draft, so he got the Dodgers to agree that he not be prevented from playing professional basketball.

He played for the Pueblo Dodgers, Elmira Pioneers, Fort Worth Cats, St. Paul Saints, and the Mobile Bears.

This has led to the legend that Sharman holds the distinction of being the only player in baseball history to have ever been ejected from a major league game without ever appearing in one.

[5][22] Earl Lloyd, the African American player who broke the NBA's color barrier was a Capitols' teammate.

Lloyd said of Sharman, "'Bill was a decent guy when it wasn't fashionable...."[23] Following the disbanding of the Capitols, Sharman was selected by the Fort Wayne Pistons in the dispersal draft and was subsequently traded to the Boston Celtics (possibly with Bob Brannum) for Chuck Share prior to the 1951–52 season.

He was named the 1955 NBA All-Star Game MVP after scoring ten of his fifteen points in the fourth quarter.

The pairing of Sharman and fellow Celtics guard Bob Cousy, combining a pure shooter with a playmaker, formed the first modern backcourt.

[37] The championship team’s star player was league MVP and future hall of fame center Zelmo Beaty.

[38] The Stars defeated the Kentucky Colonels, and their future hall of fame center Dan Issel, four games to three for the championship.

[7][46] He is one of only five people to be enshrined in both categories, the others being John Wooden, Lenny Wilkens, and his former teammates Tom Heinsohn and Bill Russell.

[49] In October 2021, Sharman was again honored as one of the league's greatest players of all time by being named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.

In 1988, he spent a year in total silence, but a medical procedure that involved crushing a vocal cord left his voice permanently strained, making it an effort for him to speak.

[54][55] Sharman died at his home in Redondo Beach, California, on October 25, 2013, at the age of 87, after having had a stroke the week prior.