Fred Quinn played basketball for Idaho from 1942-47. He led the Vandal basketball team to its first 20-win season in 1945-46 when the team went 23-11, which included a perfect 4-0 record against border rival Washington State. That same season, he led Idaho with a 9.3 points-per-game scoring average. As a result, he earned Pacific Coast Conference All-Northern Division honors as well as All-Pacific Coast Conference honors. In 1943, he was also named to the All-Northern Division squad as just as sophomore.