He was well known as a rugby player in the 1870s, representing Oxford University RFC against Cambridge in 1875, 1877, 1879, and 1880, and appearing for England against Scotland in 1876. The family was also very involved in cricket and his main sporting fame was as a cricket player and administrator. On the field he was a free-hitting batsman, strong on the off-side, fielded well at long-leg or cover-point, and bowled fast round-arm. Starting at school, in away matches he made 120 not out for Clifton against Sherborne in 1874 and a faultless 164 against Cheltenham in 1875.He also played for Gloucestershire, making his debut in 1875, just after leaving school. Going up to Oxford, he played in the University XI for four seasons from 1876 to 1889, with a best score of 71 against Middlesex. He was a double Blue and competed in the Varsity Match in rugby and in the University Match at cricket. In 1877 he played for Marylebone Cricket Club against Surrey at Lord's and in 1878 for Middlesex, appearing against Yorkshire at Bramall Lane and against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge. He was a member of MCC. Three brothers-in-law, his brother, his father-in-law and his son all played club and county cricket. Heath himself made 44 appearances at first-class level in all, scoring 969 runs and taking 26 wickets. From 1879 on, his loyalty was to his native Staffordshire. He played for the county until 1898, being captain from 1884 to 1893 and leading the county team in its first ever Minor Counties Championship match. In addition, he served as honorary secretary from 1886 to 1888, and for many years as honorary treasurer. His highest scores for the county were 217 against Lincolnshire at Stoke-on-Trent in 1889, made in four hours, and 155 not out against Cheshire in 1882.
He was involved in founding the Staffordshire Post in 1892, but this did not last long, with its parent company, The Staffordshire Potteries Newspaper Company, Ltd, wound up in 1896. The title was bought out by the Staffordshire Sentinel and Heath subsequently served as a director of that company, and later chairman, until the title was sold in 1928. Heath had joined the family business after graduation. On the death of his father in 1893, Heath and his two brothers formed the company of Robert Heath and Sons, Ltd to run the family's coal and iron interests. This was sold to the Low Moor Iron Company in 1910. The brothers had also founded the Birchenwood Colliery Company at Newchapel near Kidsgrove in 1893, developing a coking and coal byproducts business. This was the largest industrial site that the Newchapel area has ever known and provided employment for several thousand people in its heyday. According to his obituary in The Times Birchenwood did well during the First World War when its chemical products were in demand for explosives, but in the depression that followed, the company began to struggle, but the brothers kept it going to provide employment to the people of Kidsgrove, though it returned no profit to them.
He died aged 73 on 24 April 1930, in Marylebone, London. In legal notices relating to his estate he was described as "Arthur Howard Heath, late of Keele Hall, in the county of Stafford, and of No. 46, Orchard-court, Portman-square".
