Where's Sixkiller? Huskies Went to Their Fourth-String QB Against Cal

As the University of Washington football team lined up to play California at home in 1972, Husky fans were treated to a very weird sight.

Sonny Sixkiller sat in the stands as a spectator.

Next to him was Denise Warner, his girlfriend from Yakima, Washington, and later his wife. Unlike at local hamburger joints and restaurants, Husky fans didn't rush over and smother him. Everyone kept their distance.

"People were respectful," Sixkiller said. "They left me alone. It's not like nowadays where you'd have to wear a headset."

For the third consecutive week, the Huskies' celebrity quarterback missed part or all of the game, nursing a knee injury suffered against Stanford. He still wasn't close to coming back.

Adding to everyone's frustration, the UW couldn't keep his replacement on the field.

Against Cal, the Huskies started their third different quarterback in as many weeks in senior Greg Collins. He was coming off a thumb injury incurred at Stanford with the severity of it kept quiet for the following USC game. He replaced sophomore Denny Fitzpatrick, who had filled in for Sixkiller against the No. 1-ranked Trojans and got banged up some.

The Huskies seemingly were caught up in a dangerous game of quarterback roulette -- and they kept losing bodies.

The Cal game would be no different. This nightmare only got worse.

Collins threw two touchdown passes early against the Bears, a 37-yarder to wide receiver Scott Loomis and a 10-yarder to running back Luther Sligh. Yet in the second quarter, the California native got hit and suffered a separated left shoulder. It was an ill-advised play on his part.

"I made the mistake of a quarterback trying to run through a middle linebacker," Collins said.

Fitzpatrick was waved in. On his first play as Collins' replacement, the Spokane product scampered left on a pass-run option, tucked the ball under his arm and scored on a 3-yard run against the Bears, putting his team ahead 21-7.

Incredibly, Fitzpatrick suffered a severe thigh bruise on the play. He came back in the second half for a couple of snaps, struggled mightily and sat down.

That left Mark Backman.

Who?

Backman was a little-used sophomore from Seattle's Queen Anne High School, a quiet personality in the huddle. He was studying to be a doctor. On this day, he was up to the football task at hand, able to sew things together. He kept it simple and directed the patchwork Huskies to a 35-21 victory.

In the fourth quarter, Backman took the UW on a seven-play, 84-yard scoring drive. He completed his only pass attempt of the afternoon to Loomis for 36 yards to the Cal 1. He handed off the ball to fullback Pete Taggares for a short scoring plunge to put the Huskies safely on top 28-14. The defense added another TD late and it was over.

"Mark, being a doctor later, obviously was pretty heady," Sixkiller said. "He was really reserved. For him, it was just do the job."

With all the quarterbacks coming and going, the game turned extremely sloppy. The Huskies and Bears combined for 13 fumbles, eight lost, and seven interceptions.

Backman was the only one left standing in the UW QB pool for now, an ominous sign for a team that supposedly had position riches. If things got any worse, the Huskies would have to pull John Etter, a sophomore from Spokane, off a redshirt season. For now, Backman was it. He would do.

"He and I and Greg would hang out a little bit at times," Sonny said "We got along well."

Sixkiller couldn't play again for the Huskies until he met certain requirements set by the medical staff. He had to show he could do 10 knee extensions with 75 pounds in the weight room. He had to demonstrate that his injured hinge was strong enough for him to backpedal and plant and throw.

The Huskies were 6-2 and out of the Rose Bowl race at this point. People felt the team had lost some of its swagger without Sonny. Things weren't nearly as fun without him.

Heading into the UW-Cal game, the big news of the week was that Sixkiller had begun an exercise regimen. It couldn't be long now, could it?

The school publicly expressed hope that he would be available to play the following week at Oregon State.

"I knew I was going to get it," Sixkiller said of the trainers' weight requirement. "I just didn't know when."

As Sixkiller sat in the stands against Cal, the fans no doubt wanted to come over and touch him and talk to him. Yet the way things were going for the UW quarterbacks, these team loyalists steered clear probably for fear of further injuring him.

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