Q & A spotlight: Sonny Sixkiller, former UW quarterback
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Q: When did you start playing golf?
A: In 1975, when I was in the training camp of the Hawaiians of the World Football League. The camp was at a resort that had a golf course. Some of the NFL veterans on the team never traveled anywhere without their golf clubs. We'd go out on days off and harass the course with all these linemen who had never played. The veterans were the golf coaches. Part of the fun was riding in golf carts with big linemen who never had played golf. It was a real hair-raising experience.
Q: You were the Husky quarterback in the early 1970s and on the cover of Sports Illustrated. What's your favorite UW football memory?
A: The home-and-home series with Purdue in 1971 and 1972. We beat them (38-35) on a beautiful day in Husky Stadium, and the next year we were behind 21-0 at Purdue and came back and won 22-21.
Q: You play in charity golf tournaments, right?
A: I play in charity tournaments that I really enjoy such as the Seahawk tournament and Detlef Schrempf's tournament. I'm in Jacob Green's tournament Friday at Mill Creek. On Aug. 24, I'm hosting a tournament at Battle Creek Golf Course outside Marysville for the second year. It benefits the Boys and Girls Club of the Tulalip Tribes. It's a fun deal and it's good for the tribe.
Q: Talk about your golf game.
A: I can be pretty good off the tee, but I have days when I spend a lot of time in the woods looking for tee shots. I'm decent with my long fairway shots and I'm getting better from 100 yards in. I don't have a handicap index, but if I did it would be somewhere in the teens. I'll play more golf when our two sons who are still in high school graduate from O'Dea and we don't spend so much time watching them play school sports and summer baseball.
Q: Talk about your family.
A: Jesse will be a senior at O'Dea in the fall and Tyson will be a junior. They play football and baseball. My wife, Denise, and I joke that we'll have to adopt some Little Leaguers to avoid going through withdrawal when they go to college. Our oldest son, Casey, graduated from Dartmouth last year. He went to Roosevelt and played football and baseball. He is now the lobbyist in Washington, D.C., for the Cherokee Nation. That's my bloodline. I was born in Oklahoma and we moved to Oregon early on.
Q: You're in radio sales, right?
A: I've been with KOMO a couple years now. I will be doing my eighth year on the FOX retelecast of the (UW football) games. Before this, I worked for G. Heileman, which owned Rainier Brewery, and then we were bought out by Stroh's. Before that, I had worked for beer and wine wholesalers for 16 years.
Q: What's one of your favorite shots in local golf?
A: Going for the green on the 14th hole at the TPC at Snoqualmie Ridge, hitting over that ravine. It's an awesome shot. I figure it's worth one ball if I don't make it.
Q: What clubs in your bag do you especially like?
A: I love my King Cobra 3-wood and my driver from Redbird. Jay Turner, the Redbird owner, is a good guy who has done a lot in the community. I like my PING-ZING II putter.
Q: What are reasons you like golf?
A: The camaraderie. Being out there trying to do well but also having fun. I love the smell of freshly cut grass. It takes me back to my high-school years, especially high-school football in Ashland.
Q: What's your prediction for the Huskies this fall?
A: I'd say 9-2. If they can win one of their first two games (Michigan here and at Miami) that would be a decent start.