Legend of Sixkiller: On a Wet Day, Sonny and Company Dissected the Frogs

Sonny Sixkiller and his University of Washington football team stood in the tunnel and watched as Mother Nature assaulted Husky Stadium.

Thunder, lightning and pounding rain rolled through the area, turning everyone into wide-eyed spectators and delaying the opening kickoff.

Once they received the all clear, Sixkiller and the now 17th-ranked Huskies sauntered onto a field covered with a sheet of ice, got traction as best they could and handed weather-challenged Texas Christian University a sound 44-26 beating.

"It was really a weird game," Sonny said.

Before a record crowd of 59,900, Sixkiller was efficient but far from perfect against the visiting Horned Frogs. He completed 10 of 24 passes for 230 yards and two scores, one to each of his super gnats, Tom Scott and Jim Krieg, covering 56 and 46 yards, respectively.

Yet the UW quarterback lofted another pass for the end zone, in the general direction of Krieg, only to have All-Southwest Conference safety Lyle Blackwood intercept it and race 83 yards before the Huskies caught up to him.

Five years later, Blackwood, a noted tough guy, would return to the city as a member of the expansion Seattle Seahawks, one of several stops in his 14-year NFL career.

Sixkiller threw two interceptions against TCU, while his backup, Greg Collins, had three stolen. Blackwood collected two pass thefts and nearly came up with a third.

"I tried to throw one pass away and it was intercepted," Sonny said with a shrug.

The game also provided a special-teams oddity. Krieg returned the second-half kickoff 99 yards for a lightning-strike touchdown, finding a huge opening through the left side. Players hadn't caught their breaths when TCU's Fred Pouncey ran back the ensuing kickoff 94 yards up the right sideline for a rebuttal score.

While Sixkiller wasn't anywhere near his best, he continued to draw positive reviews from first-time witnesses as to his football magic. This included Horned Frogs quarterback Steve Judy, who had joked to former UW running back Harvey Blanks during a management training course in Texas the previous summer that he and his TCU teammates would turn the Husky quarterback into "Sonny Sixkitten."

"We were beaten by a real good ball club, by a great quarterback," Judy said, more respectful in defeat. "Sonny Sixkiller is the best quarterback in the country. Sonny is probably the best passer I've seen since I've been playing college ball."

Sixkiller showed no aversion to the less-than-perfect climatic conditions, something the Texans couldn't claim as they slipped and fell at times. He was good with all obstacles.

"I've never seen it rain that hard in Seattle," Sonny said.

Thunder, raindrops and Sixkiller passes, they all proved problematic for the Horned Frogs.