Fred Sheffield, captain of the 1944 NCAA champion University of Utah basketball team, has passed away. His interment service was Thursday at Sacramento Valley National Cemetery in Dixon, Calif.
Sheffield was born in Kaysville in 1923 and was active in many sports growing up. At 6-foot-1, Sheffield was the center and top rebounder for the Utah team that included Arnie Ferrin, Herb Wilkinson and Wat Misaka and defeated Dartmouth 42-40 in the NCAA finals.
He was also the NCAA high-jump champion and excelled in the broad jump and low hurdles. He signed a one-year contract with the Philadelphia Warriors, playing as the starting forward while attending medical school in 1946. He was a physician in the military and also served as a member of the faculty at the University of California, Irvine Medical School.
He is survived by his wife Kari, children Laurey (Dr. E.J. "Joe") Zayac of San Antonio, Texas, Sari (Michael) Latta of Sacramento and Flint Sheffield of Sacramento, seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.