Bill Sprinkle, former UW football player and father of Danny Sprinkle, dies at 80

Bill Sprinkle, the father of current University of Washington men's basketball coach Danny Sprinkle and a former UW football player, died on June 5 after a multiyear ordeal with Parkinson's disease and several falls in recent weeks at his home in Bismarck, N.D. He was 80 years old.

"He was my best friend," Danny said. "He was my hero. He was my mentor. He was my guiding light."

One of the greatest high school athletes in Montana history, Bill spent five years playing defensive back and returning punts at Washington for coach Jim Owens from 1964-68. He returned to Montana after finishing his playing career with the Huskies, where he became synonymous with the state's football scene.

In 1972, Bill's coaching career started at Montana Tech before a move to Idaho. But he returned to the high school level in 1978, taking a job at C.M. Russell High in Great Falls, Mont. It was the first of three high school stops that also included stints with Billings Central High and Helena High. He was appointed assistant executive director of the Montana High School Association, the state's governing body for high school athletics, in 1987, and held the job until 2005.

Along with his coaching and administrative work, Bill served on the board of directors for the Montana Coaches Association, commissioner of the Montana Officials Association and was a Big Sky football officials evaluator. He was also on the board of the Montana Special Olympics and led a chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

After helping found the National Football Foundation's Montana chapter, he received the NFF's leadership award in 2007. Bill was inducted into the Montana Pro Football Hall of Fame, despite never playing professionally, in 2026, largely because of his tenure as NFF chapter president, raising and distributing at least $40,000 in scholarships.

Despite all of his responsibilities, Bill always had time for the people closest to him, Danny remembered.

Bill's support came in letters. When Bill saw someone he loved struggling, he wrote them a letter filled with love and support. Urging perseverance while offering words of wisdom, learned from a lifetime of overcoming obstacles.

When his niece, professional snowboarder Megan Pischke, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012, Bill wrote her a letter so motivational that she kept it on her nightstand for three years, Danny said. Bill didn't limit his letters to blood relatives, either. Danny said many of his former teammates and friends have - at one point - received a letter from Bill with advice or encouragement. The UW coach added he's kept all his letters from his father, too, and hopes to pass them down someday.

"Everybody that knew him knew his integrity. His character. How much he cared about others," Danny said. "Making the world a better place was important to him."

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William John Sprinkle was born in Seattle on April 25, 1946, one of six children born to William and Anita Sprinkle. The family moved to Great Falls, the city Bill considered his hometown, when he was 10.

He enrolled at Great Falls Central High in 1960, where he quickly emerged as one of the state's best athletes. Bill was a high school All-American in football, basketball and track, and helped Great Falls Central win the MHSA Class A state championship in 1962. His exploits earned him a place in the MHSA Athletes' Hall of Fame in 1996.

But while Bill thrived - on the gridiron, in the gym and on the track - he was dealing with the first major hurdle of his life. His father died when Bill was a freshman in high school.

Sports helped him get through the loss. In a 2017 interview with The Great Falls Tribune, Bill said he spent hours shooting baskets at Heisey Memorial Gym, and noted many of his coaches served as role models and mentors for him throughout his teenage years after his father's death.

His football talent attracted attention from around the country: Montana Montana State, Colorado, Minnesota and Iowa were among the schools interested. He committed to Owens and Washington, in part because his uncle, Dick Sprinkle, played for the Huskies from 1948-50.

Notre Dame, however, proved the most difficult team to turn down. Bill had visited coach Ara Parseghian's program and was told he'd have to walk on. Late in the recruiting process, however, the Fighting Irish opened a scholarship and offered Bill a spot. He declined, choosing instead to honor his pledge to Owens and the Huskies.

"I was from a Catholic school and Notre Dame was a big deal," Bill told The Tribune. "I was thinking ‘Could I say no to Notre Dame?' But I did. I wanted to go to Washington."

Bill joined the Huskies during a difficult period. Owens and the Huskies went to the Rose Bowl three times from 1959-1963. During Bill's five years at UW, they never won more than six games. Bill redshirted in 1965, then suffered an Achilles tendon injury that cost him most of the 1966 campaign.

But in 1967, Bill reclaimed his starting spot in the UW secondary. He was also selected as a "110 percenter" for his work ethic and hard-hitting ability, earning a purple helmet for his efforts. During his final season in 1968, Bill knocked USC running back eventual Heisman Trophy winner O.J. Simpson out of a game.

"It was an exciting time in my life," he told The Tribune. "Playing in front of 60,000 fans was a big deal, you know, for a Montana kid."

After graduating from UW in 1969, Bill returned to Montana where he briefly worked in banking. Football reentered his life when he took the job at Montana Tech in 1972 and led him to his future. In Butte, Mont., Bill met Danette Holland. Less than a year later, on July 14, 1973, they were married.

"That was the important thing of going to Butte to coach," Bill said in the story. "They didn't pay me anything to coach there (laughs). They put me up in the dorm and said they'd try to find me a thousand bucks at the end of the season, which they never did (laughs). Anyway, Danette's sister was the secretary in the football office. She came up one night to pick her up and hey, here we are."

It was a 52-year marriage that produced three children, daughters Erin and Lacey, and Danny, who said his father regularly took the family out to Seattle for Husky football games.

And while Danny was glad his father got to see him become the men's basketball coach at UW, he said Bill's small moments of encouragement and his letters will last the longest.

"Those are the things that impacted me more than him being there for a championship and all of that," Danny said. "I knew how proud he was, but it was more important that he was there in the tough times."

Bill was preceded in death by his sister Jayni Sprinkle and his brother Stephen Sprinkle. He is survived by his wife Danette, his children Erin, Danny and Lacey Gallik, son-in-law Mark Gallik, seven grandchildren - William, Stella, Matthew, Andrew, Joseph, Margaret and Luke - and his sisters Liz Loynes and Susie Sprinkle, and his brother John Patrick Sprinkle.

"He's the guy I always wanted to be," Danny said, "not just as a coach or as an athlete, but as a person."

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This story was originally published June 12, 2026 at 11:37 PM.