Paddy Sheriff was stationed with Western Command in Athlone, Westmeath when he was one of six other fellow Western Command servicemen (along with Bill Jackson, Tommy Keenan, Jimmy McGee, brother Dermot and Danny Reddin) selected to compete on the Irish basketball team at the 1948 Olympics. Sheriff was a member of the Army School of Music and longtime member of the Western Command Army Band, retiring as a company sergeant. In 1990, he died in a car accident along with his son Padraig near Tyrellspass, County Westmeath, en route to Dublin from Galway.