Where's Sixkiller? At Oregon State in 1972, He Was Just Another College Kid
University of Washington quarterback Sonny Sixkiller experienced a football road trip to Oregon State unlike any other in his career. He was just another college kid, looking for a place to stay,
Rather than board the team bus, the nation's one-time leading passer hopped in his Volkswagen and drove the 250 miles to Corvallis, Oregon.
Instead of checking into the team hotel with his teammates, Sixkiller spent Friday night with high school buddies who rented a house in town and attended OSU.
"It was weird going to the game like that," Sonny said. "They were just guys that I grew up with, friends since grade school."
Nursing a knee injury for a month now, the Huskies' preseason All-America and Heisman Trophy candidate sat with his parents in the stands for the 1972 Huskies-Beavers football game.
The Sixkillers made the 220-mile drive from their Ashland, Oregon, home to be with their son, coming nearly as far as he did.
They watched as the Huskies used their fourth different starting quarterback in as many outings -- an unheard of situation for any major college football team.
Sophomore Mark Backman did the honors for this injury-plagued and depleted Washington team that was now 6-2 and unranked and just hanging in there. He made the first and only start of his collegiate career. He was headed for medical school.
He took time out of his studies to complete 7 of 12 passes for 93 yards and two touchdowns, throwing one each to starting running back Glen Bonner and Pete Taggares.
Backman, who occasionally was spelled by fellow sophomore Dennis Fitzpatrick, kept the UW on course in the face of a flurry of mistakes.
Handoffs were a problem. Backs simply dropped the ball from Backman. The Huskies fumbled seven times and lost five. At one point, the two teams turned the ball over three times in four plays.
This replacement quarterback put the UW in the lead and kept them there. For one Husky game day, Backman walked away knowing he got the job done and, unlike his fellow QBs that season, stayed healthy in the process.
"Mark was very solid," Sixkiller said. "He wasn't going to do a ton of things to hurt you. I didn't have any doubt of him getting it done."
Backman didn't know it at the time, but he would be making his final appearance for the Huskies. The team didn't need him over the final two games. He didn't need football thereafter.
A few months later, Backman announced he was passing up his final two season of eligibility. He would concentrate on his medical-school pursuits. He would become a family physician in Anacortes, Washington, where he is today.
Backman understood the Huskies, with Fitzpatrick in mind, would be returning to the option in 1973.
"I had to decide what would produce the best return on my time," he said. "I looked at it realistically. I know my limitations. Nobody every mistook me for a scrambling quarterback."
Yet on this day after meeting with the news media and showering, Backman had the benefit of climbing aboard the chartered bus, leaning back and letting someone else do the driving to Seattle.
Sixkiller was already on the road, making that five-hour ride up Interstate 5, in a big hurry to get home.
"I took off after the game," he said.
Sixkiller needed to get his mind back on his game. After a month-long absence, he'd been cleared to play against No. 8-ranked UCLA that was coming to town.