Good to the Last Pass: Sixkiller-Led Huskies Valiantly Held Off Oregon

No matter what the college football experts and prognosticators said, the 1972 University of Washington season was never going to be easy.

The Huskies played their opener without Sonny Sixkiller, idle with a badly sprained ankle.

Sixkiller didn't start at quarterback until the third game.

Now 4-0 and ranked 11th in the Associated Press poll, the Huskies prepared for nemesis Oregon and Sonny was dealing with some sort of illness for the second time in three games against the Ducks.

"I was so sick, I could barely see," he said.

Not only that, whenever a Sixkiller-led UW team and the Dan Fouts-guided Ducks got together, a close and exciting game was guaranteed.

The Huskies won 25-23 in 1970 on a last-minute field goal. The Ducks prevailed 23-21 in 1971 on a last-second missed UW field goal.

Now here was Sixkiller and Fouts playing the rubber match.

They enjoyed a natural rivalry as high-profile quarterbacks, one perpetuated by others.

"Sonny gets all the ink," Ken Woody, a former Oregon kicker and Seattle native, said kiddingly. "I probably shouldn't say this, but I sent some Sonny Sixkiller postcards to Dan's roommates. They flash them in front of Dan to get his dander up."

Another large crowd of 61,000 showed up at Husky Stadium to see these prolific passers go at it. They were not disappointed.

This game went down to the final 12 seconds as the Huskies turned away four consecutive Fouts passes to the end zone from the UW 10.

Each fell incomplete, though the Ducks strongly protested that pass interference should have been called on cornerback Calvin Jones on the first attempt.

Final: Washington 23-17.

Sixkiller gutted it out and threw three touchdown passes, two to tight end John Brady. Spelled regularly by backup Greg Collins, he completed 10 of 24 passes for 141 yards. Countering him and playing catchup, Fouts hit 21 of 47 throws for 231 yards and a score.

The Huskies rushed to a 16-0 halftime lead, then held on as the Ducks wouldn't let go.

The UW frittered away a bunch of scoring opportunities. They called four running plays to Pete Taggares inside the Oregon 6 and failed to punch it in for a score, missed a 22-yard field goal and saw Sixkiller get sacked on a fourth-and-two play at the Ducks 10.

With two-plus minutes remaining, Oregon scored to cut the deficit to six and recovered an onside kick to push the issue. Fouts took them to the Husky 10 with 39 seconds left and no timeouts.

The game came down to the strong-armed Ducks quarterback against a strong-willed UW secondary.

Fouts' first pass was aimed at Bob Palm, who was defended by Jones, considered one of the best at his position in the country. Calvin would receive every honor at the end of the season.

Watching intently, the UW quarterbacks were incredulous at the play call testing Jones.

"I turned to Greg Collins and said, 'I can't believe they're not throwing to the other side,' " Sixkiller said. "Calvin was our All-Amercian defensive back. The guy was cat quick and could jump."

Jones, targeted once more on fourth down, slapped the ball away with 12 seconds on the clock. The Huskies had survived.

They were 5-0 but hardly feeling like the dominant team many had expected.

"I'm glad it was my last game against Oregon," said Sixkiller, a native of Ashland, Oregon.

Unfortunately, it wasn't his last brush with bad health. In fact, the worst was yet to come.