One of Seattle's former athletic
greats, an original member of the Baltimore Colts and a
pioneer pro basketball player, Sig was constantly on the
move throughout his life.
Sigurdson was one of Seattle's best
athletes of his generation, receiving All-City honors
while playing for Ballard High School during the 1936-37
season. He spurned the University of Washington
recruiting efforts to become a four-sport standout at
Pacific Lutheran University, widely recognized as a
Little All-America end in football and the
multiple-sport teammate of Marv Harshman, the Hall of
Fame basketball coach for PLU, Washington State and the
UW. On one weekend, he traveled to Bellingham for
a basketball game against Western Washington and stayed
an extra day for a track meet, winning the 440-yd dash
and a relay race running barefoot. He also played
baseball, golf and tennis for the 'Lutes. With 211
points in 1940, Sig was the record-setting basketball
points king of the small college league until it was
broken in 1942.
After graduating from Pacific
Lutheran, Coach Leon Brigham put together what has been
argued to be one of the greatest group of "demons with
the forward pass", which included the 6'3" Sigurdson as
a receiving end. The West Seattle Yellowjackets
went undefeated in 1941 before war broke out and
football shifted power to the war industries and
military teams.
From 1942-43 Sig was in uniform for
Jimmy Mandas' Seattle Ironworkers team, otherwise known
as the "Ironmen" as the starting two-way end before being inducted into the US
Marine Corps playing football and basketball for the El
Toro Marines in 1944-45, defeating UCLA in both.
In 1946, Harshman and Sigurdson
teamed up with the Tacoma Indians and in 1947, he played
eight games as a two-way end for the Colts of the
fledgling All-American Football Conference (soon to
merge with the
NFL), catching eight passes for 104 yards before a
fractured ankle suffered in practice ended his season in
October of 1947.
He never returned. He had promised his wife
(Louise) that
once he was injured his pro football career was over.
His salary for the season...$4000.00. Even while
playing pro football, Sigurdson was a hot basketball
commodity as his contract and rights were being bought
and sold in October of 1947.
Even with his pro football career
so brief, Sigurdson regularly received mail from fans
through the years requesting autographs because his
place in the game as an original Baltimore Colts
player was unique to sports fans.
During WWII, he worked in the
Seattle shipyards before serving in the US Marines.
Stationed in California, he played two
seasons of pro basketball with a Los Angeles team
suiting only for home games, then signed with the
Seattle Blue Devils as a forward in 1946 when he
returned home, playing both football (Indians) and
basketball (Blue Devils) as a "professional" in the same
season.
When he returned to the Northwest,
Sig managed a bowling alley and taught the game for 15
years before becoming a longshoreman, working that job
until he was forced to retire at 70. "I wanted to
work longer but they wouldn't let me," he said.
Until 2006, Tuesday's were reserved for playing
blackjack and slot machines at Auburn's Muckleshoot
Casino...he and his wife liked to gamble.
"It's not football, but it's
competition".
1941 Pacific Lutheran Paul A. Preus
Trophy - Most Inspirational Athlete
1941 Northwest Football League Champions
1942 Northwest War Industries
Champions
1942 Washington Independent Football Champions
1946 Pacific Coast League North Champions
1947 Baltimore Colts (All-American Football Conference)
