SEQUIM — From far and wide, former Washington Huskies athletes will make the trek to 7 Cedars Golf Course beginning Thursday for the 13th annual Sonny Sixkiller Celebrity Classic.
The event raises funds for the Olympic Medical Center Foundation.
A total of 38 Huskies are expected to attend and play including Sixkiller, who was a star quarterback for UW from 1970-72.
One of the most famous to attend will be offensive lineman Lincoln Kennedy, who went on to an 11-year career in the NFL, appearing in three pro bowls.
Olympic Peninsula residents expected to attend and play are Derrin Doty, Scott Jones, Brandon Irvine and Matt Lake. Jones, a cornerback for the Huskies and in the NFL, is in the Port Angeles Roughrider Hall of Fame, as is Lane, who played baseball for the Riders and Huskies. Doty, who played at Sequim High School and played baseball for the Huskies is the baseball coach for Crosspoint Academy in Kitsap County.
Also attending this year is former Husky Trevor Highfield, who is the head football coach for the Forks Spartans.
Sixkiller helped start the event in 2011 along with the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe. He has headed the tournament every year since except for 2020 when it had to be canceled due to COVID-19.
Sixkiller said that what he likes the best is the “camaraderie amongst the guys who come out to play and the interaction with the local fans.”
He also looks forward to meeting up with his former Huskies wide receiver Tom Scott. He flies up from Tucson, Ariz., and stays with Sixkiller at his home in Seattle. Scott caught 35 passes and six touchdowns from Sixkiller in 1971.
“We like to say ‘once a Dawg, always a Dawg’,” Sixkiller said. “It’s a real brotherhood.
“We share the same stories every year. But it never gets old,” Sixkiller said. “It’s going to be a great day and a lot of fun.”
The event begins with a dinner and auction of memorabilia signed by Huskies at 5 p.m. Thursday at 7 Cedars Casino Thursday. The golf tournament begins at 10 a.m. Friday at Cedars at Dungeness. All proceeds go to the Olympic Medical Center Foundation, and the event has raised just over $100,000 in past years.
Other former Huskies expected to attend include Steve Alvord, Dick Baird, Tim Burnham, Bruce Case, Jason Chorak, Braxton Bleman, Tim Cowan, Elliott and Ed Cribby, Robin Earl, Justin Glenn, Randy Hart, Steve Hawes, Jeff Jaeger, Michael Jackson, Todd Johnson, Graham Lasee, Mark Lee, Omare Lowe, Chip Lydum, Brett Merrick, Shane Pahukoa, Eddie Pasatiempo, Ray Pinney, Ray Price, Ronnie Rowland, Tommie Smith, Chris Tormey, Rob Weller and Pat Zakskorn.
Changes at UW
The tournament takes place as there are huge changes happening at the University of Washington with the break-up of the Pac-12. Washington is moving to the Big Ten along with Oregon, UCLA and USC as other schools moved on to other conferences and Washington State and Oregon State try to keep the conference alive.
“I grew up in the Pac-8. There’s always been a PAC-something. We always went to Oregon State, Cal, Wazzu … it’s kind of sad to see it go by the wayside. But today, college athletics is about money.”
Though now Washington will have new rivals in Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State.
“When we had Michigan State (1970) or Purdue (1971 and 1972), it was always an extra-special game,” Sixkiller said.
