Hall of Fame
Football (1947-48)
Stan Heath, the legendary “Washoe Zephyr,” was the quarterback for Nevada’s greatest football team—coach Joe Sheetketski’s 1948 crew. A 6-1, 190-pound slinging whiz who started his college career at Wisconsin, the Milwaukee, Wis., native starred on Nevada's 1947 and 1948 teams that went a combined 18-4 and played in the Wolf Pack’s first two bowl games, earning appearances in the Salad Bowl and the Harbor Bowl. Utilizing Heath's arm in an age of run dominated offenses, Nevada made it into the top 10 in the rankings in 1948 and set a national collegiate record for yards averaged per game. Heath earned All-America honors from United Press International and finished fifth in the voting for the Heisman Trophy after leading the nation in passing, total offense and touchdown passes in 1948. He eclipsed the collegiate standard of 1,457 yards in Nevada’s sixth game with a 13-for-18 effort for 337 yards and then-season total of 1,645 and finished the year with 2,210 passing yards. In a 1948 game against Oklahoma City, Heath threw five touchdown passes, a school record that stood unmatched for 30 years and unbroken until fellow Hall of Fame quarterback Chris Vargas threw seven against UNLV in 1993. He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers with the fifth pick in the 1949 NFL Draft and played one year there before moving to Canada, where he played for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Calgary Stampeders. Heath spent 20 years as a cattle rancher in Nebraska and became close friends with longtime Nebraska coach Bob Devaney, starting a "Beef Club" for the Cornhuskers. He also lived in Alaska and Georgia and passed away in 2010. Heath was named one of the quarterbacks on Nevada's Team of the Century, sharing the honor with Vargas.
