Sonny 'White Shoes' Sixkiller and Friends Walked All Over Illinois
Sonny Sixkiller and his University of Washington teammates did a lot of things that ran contrary to Jim Owens' once old-school coaching norms.
They gambled and threw the football anywhere on the field.
From inside their 10. From the 1. Out of the end zone.
They wore long hair and facial hair just like any other college student.
Over their ears. Flowing out of their helmets. Beneath their nose.
Entering the 1972 season, they wanted yet one more curtailment lifted -- they wanted to wear white shoes for every game.
They'd put white tape over their black cleats for the '71 Apple Cup without asking.
Billy "White Shoes" Johnson had now made this color of footwear all the rage in the NFL.
Besides, Sonny and his guys admired whatever trend-setter Joe Namath said and did.
The New York Jets quarterback boldly guaranteed a Super Bowl victory over the Baltimore Colts in 1969 and delivered.
Namath also wore white shoes.
"I kind of adopted that Joe Namath philosophy that if you didn't think you could win every game, you shouldn't be playing the game," Sixkiller said. "You figured anyone who could win a Super Bowl like that, you should believe him."
And dress like him.
The UW quarterback and teammate Bill Cahill presented their white shoes request to Owens.
The coach said yes.
There was just one problem with all of this. The school couldn't afford new shoes, so the players would have to buy them themselves.
The players couldn't afford them either. Noting that the tape jobs didn't hold up very well against WSU, Sixkiller and his guys went another route. They applied white shoe polish.
Heading into the Illinois game at home, this change in footwear color approach seemed to be working -- the 14th-ranked Huskies were 3-0.
Warming up to face the Illini in a national TV game on ABC, Sixkiller heard Owens call him to the sideline. The Husky leader wanted to introduce his quarterback to a legendary man.
Meet Bud Wilkinson.
This older person was near unbeatable as the Oklahoma coach for nearly two decades, winning three national championships. Owens was one of his players in 1946-49.
Wilkinson was now an ABC commentator and still a regal presence.
After they shook hands the conversation immediately shifted to the Huskies' white shoes. That's all Owens and Wilkinson talked about. It was almost comical because it was such a big deal to them.
"I don't think that would have worked on one of your teams, coach," Owens said.
"Hell no, that would not have worked!" Wilkinson said, practically snorting.
Properly attired, Sixkiller and the UW finally won one without a struggle, beating Illinois 31-11 in front of 61,200, the largest in Husky Stadium history.
Calvin Jones got the UW on the scoreboard in the opening quarter with a 57-yard punt return for a touchdown. By halftime the Huskies were up 17-0.
Sixkiller, splitting time with Greg Collins as the game gradually got out of hand, completed 11 of 20 passes for 131 yards and a score.
"I threw some of my best passes that day in Husky Stadium," he said.
One of them was a 16-yarder that went to tight end John Brady, standing wide open in the middle of the end zone while Sonny courageously scrambled away from trouble.
Illinois coach Bob Blackmon was a big fan the UW quarterback after trying and failing to stop him for two consecutive seasons.
"Sixkiller had it," Blackmon said. "He could wait and wait and wait, and when he'd finally go, he'd get it off with that great release."
Everybody in a purple uniform felt better about things with a 20-point victory. After struggling to win their first three games, needing a heroic comeback at Purdue, they'd finally beat an opponent handily.
And they did it wearing those white shoes.