BLYN — Husky fever swept 7 Cedars Casino on Thursday night.
A pep band played “Bow Down to Washington,” cheerleaders danced and University of Washington sports legends reveled at Club Seven for the inaugural Sonny Sixkiller Husky Celebrity Golf Classic dinner and auction.
Sixkiller, a former Husky quarterback who led the nation in passing in 1970 and made the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1971, said the golf tournament at the Cedars at Dungeness Golf Course will be an annual affair.
“This is a thought from many months ago of trying to put a golf tournament together over here,” Sixkiller told a crowd of about 150.
“It was about bringing awareness to the community. It was about just coming out, pushing the community, the Olympic Peninsula and what it has to offer. And I’m rewarded by that.”
The golf classic raised an estimated $40,000 for the Olympic Medical Center Foundation.
Event emcee Robb Weller, the Husky yell leader who was credited with inventing “The Wave” at Husky Stadium in 1981, described OMC as “one of the best rural hospitals in America.”
Sixkiller said the fundraiser “made ideal sense.”
Former KOMO sports director Bruce King introduced the 32 Husky legends playing in the tournament.