Having entered the United States through Ellis Island, his family settled in the steel mill area of Northwest Indiana.

His coach, Bob Voigts, remembered Sarkisian's great leadership with this story: "We were playing the eighth ranked Minnesota Gopher team with future Hall of Famers Leo Nomellini, Clayton Tonnemaker and Bud Grant and fell behind 16-0.

{Milwaukee Sentinel Journal November 22, 1948} He was also chosen as the United States Armenian athlete of the year in 1948.

[7] In defeating the University of Illinois in the last game of the season, Northwestern secured a berth in the 1949 Rose Bowl.

As captain of the Wildcats, he helped lead Northwestern to the program's only Rose Bowl victory, defeating No.

[8] In that Rose Bowl he spearheaded a great Northwestern comeback by stopping a California Golden Bear running back on a fourth and 1 deep in Northwestern territory late in the fourth quarter, and by initiating a direct snap from center to halfback Ed Tunniclif on a misdirection play that Tunnicliff scampered for 45 yards for the winning score with less than a minute to play in the Rose Bowl.

[9] His teammate, Johnny Miller, a sophomore halfback that season, credits Sarkisian's inspiring pep talk during the Ohio State game for helping him break two spectacular touchdown runs that snapped a 7–7 tie and produced a 21–7 victory.

[3] Sarkisianwas a member of the College All-Stars who played the defending NFL champion Philadelphia Eagles at Soldier Field in Chicago, on August 22, 1949.