Bruce Stanley Sheriff (April 24, 1932 – January 16, 1993) was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

player, coach, and college athletics administrator.

Early life

Sheriff graduated from Washington High School in San Francisco.

Playing career

He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

California Polytechnic State University California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo or Cal Poly) is a public university in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States, - Cites the location of the university and shows that the university ...

from 1950 to 1953. In 1953, not only did Sheriff earn

Little All-America The Little All-America team is an honor given annually in the United States to the best small-college players at their respective positions. The first Little All-America team for college football, selected with assistance from reporters in ever ...

accolades, but also was picked as an honorable mention for the

UPI United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ce ...

's overall Division I-level All-American Team, for which he received 17 voting points. Sheriff then played professionally in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) with the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

, and

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

between 1954 and 1957. He was the 49ers' primary starter at left linebacker in both

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

and

1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...

Coaching career

Sheriff served as the head football coach at the

University of Northern Iowa The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) is a public university in Cedar Falls, Iowa, United States. UNI offers more than 90 majors across five colleges. The fall 2024 total enrollment was 9,283 students. The university was initially founded in 1 ...

from 1960 to 1982, compiling a record of 129–101–4. The football field inside the

UNI-Dome UNI-Dome (pronounced "YOU-nih-dome") is a multi-purpose stadium on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa, United States. It opened in 1976 as the home of the UNI Panthers basketball and football teams. The facility' ...

, Northern Iowa's football stadium, is named Sheriff Field in his honor.

Athletic administration

Sheriff was then the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches a ...

at the

University of Hawaii at Manoa A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

from 1983 until his death in 1993. He died on January 16, 1993, in

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

, after suffering a heart attack at

Honolulu International Airport Daniel K. Inouye International Airport , also known as Honolulu International Airport, is the main and largest airport in Hawaii.

. The

Stan Sheriff Center The SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center is a 10,300-seat multi-purpose arena in Honolulu CDP,basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

teams, was renamed in his honor in 1998. His alma mater, Cal Poly, regularly plays basketball and volleyball games annually in the arena bearing his name, as both schools are now members of the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's NCAA Division I, Division I. The conference was origina ...

in those sports.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheriff, Stan 1932 births 1993 deaths American football centers American football linebackers Cal Poly Mustangs football players Cleveland Browns players Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wahine athletic directors Northern Iowa Panthers athletic directors Northern Iowa Panthers football coaches Pittsburgh Steelers players San Francisco 49ers players Coaches of American football from California Coaches of American football from Hawaii Players of American football from San Francisco Players of American football from Honolulu