The Nevada Sagebrush

Stan Heath. Photo courtesy of Nevada Athletics Department

Nevada athletics historian Dick Trachok headed to the post office Monday to mail a copy of the Reno-Gazette Journal to Stan Heath in Georgia.

Heath was mentioned in the RGJ’s front-page story Monday as Nevada’s quarterback when the Wolf Pack football team was last ranked in 1948.

But before he could mail the letter, Trachok, Heath’s former teammate at Nevada, received a phone call from Heath’s wife that the former Nevada quarterback died Sunday — the same day his alma mater cracked the top-25 rankings for the first time since Heath played his final game at Nevada.

Heath was 83.

“When I played here, he was the guy I wanted to model myself after,” said Nevada football head coach Chris Ault, who played quarterback at Nevada from 1965-1967.

Heath — Nevada’s first All-American and 1948 Heisman Trophy candidate — battled throat cancer for several years at his home in Georgia and was recently diagnosed with pneumonia, Trachok said.

“He was a great man and a dear friend,” Trachok said. “Nevada is really losing one of its greatest today.”

Heath, the son of Major League Baseball player Mickey Heath, was born in Ohio in 1927.

His father moved around the country playing first base for such teams as the Philadelphia Phillies and the Cincinnati Reds.

“I grew up everywhere,” Heath said two weeks ago.

Heath initially went to school at the University of Wisconsin, Madison but transferred to Nevada in 1947 when Iowa coach Joe Sheeketski became the head coach for the Wolf Pack.

“(Sheeketski) ran a very open system,” Heath said. “That’s why I went to Nevada.”

Nevada’s innovative T-formation pass-first offense broke the mold and embraced that same wild-west personality on the

football field that the region popularized on the Great Basin a century before.

The “Slingshot,” as he was known in his playing days, led Nevada to an 18-4 record in two seasons (1947-48).

He led Nevada to its first-ever bowl win in the 1948 Salad Bowl against North Texas, 13-6. He set collegiate single season records in 1948 in passing yards (2,005), passing touchdowns (22) and average team-yards per game (221.3).

Nevada moved to the No. 10 spot in the nation in 1948 behind Heath’s quarterbacking and news spread across America of the Nevada quarterback breaking the mold.

“I can remember reading about him in the Des Moines Sunday Register,” former Nevada President Joe Crowley said. “I would read about the University of Nevada and their great quarterback.

“He was a wizard passer for his time.”

Heath was one of five athletes nominated for the Heisman Trophy in 1948. Southern Methodist University running back Doak Walker won the award.

“It was a really great honor,” said Heath who finished fifth with 113 votes. “They didn’t make as big a deal about it back then, but I was still happy to get mentioned.”

Nevada played in the 1949 Harbor Bowl that season, but lost 27-7 against Villanova.

“I’d like to think things would’ve turned out differently (in the Harbor Bowl) if I hadn’t had that injury,” said Heath, who broke his ribs in the second quarter. “It was a very tough way to end my stay at Nevada. I was very sorry to leave.”

Heath was picked in the first round of the 1949 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers but only played one season.

He went on to play five seasons in the Canadian Football League, leading Calgary to two division titles.

Heath became a cattle rancher in Nebraska after football.

Heath is survived by his wife, Jeanette, daughters Heather Heath-Certo and Holly Heath; and stepsons Kenneth, Craig and Sid Allen.

Emerson Marcus can be reached at emarcus@nevadasagebrush.com.

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