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April 24, 2008 12:15 PM

Report on Bud Ericksen funeral

City of Bothell flags were at half-staff Wednesday, the day of the funeral of former Husky center Bud Ericksen.

About 300 mourners attended a service at Bothell United Methodist Church and my information comes from one of them, my colleague Craig Smith.

Craig went to Bothell High School with Ericksen's son, Mike, who played freshman football at Princeton and now lives in San Diego.

Bud Ericksen, 92, may have been the oldest living Husky at the time of his death last Monday.

He was a center and defensive lineman-linebacker who played for the Huskies from 1935-37 and then played for the Washington Redskins before World War II. He scored the opening touchdown in the 1938 Pineapple Bowl victory over Hawaii in Honolulu when, as center, he took a pitchout from a running back and ran 32 yards for the TD in the 53-13 win.

Ericksen is believed to be the only Bothell High School graduate to play in the NFL. He was a third-generation Bothell resident and served as mayor from 1969-73. He operated an auto dealership in Bothell for decades.

Ericksen was an avid Husky fan and Craig reports that his daughter, Edith, said at the service that she thought her father and the family minister, Greg Jackson, were discussing death and dying the night before he died.

"Then I got closer and what they were talking about was the Oregon game,'' she said, referring to this year's season opener Aug. 30 in Eugene.

Rev. Jackson got a good response at the service when he took off his gold stole (the long scarf-like ceremonial garment ministers wear around their necks) and replaced it with a purple one in honor of Ericksen's devotion to the Huskies.

"It was the perfect tribute to an old Husky,'' Craig said.

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