SUCCESS BREDS SUCCES AT STRATFORD

In the beginning, there was no football until 1962 at Stratford High School.  A scrapbook in the school library says that they first played in 1931 but none of the yearbooks have a mention of the sport until the 1963 edition.  Newspaper searches confirm that in late 1962 Robert Stuckwisch was approached to come to Stratford to start several athletic programs at the school.  The early yearbooks have pictures and scores of boys’ basketball and for a few seasons’ girls’ as well.  One picture from the 1930’s shows the track team consisting of two young men posing in sprinters stances.  Baseball was added to the school in the 1950’s but there were no pictures of any other sports in the older yearbooks until 1964.

Robert “Bob” Stuckwisch had a diverse career prior to coming to Stratford.  He was an assistant football coach, head track coach as well as basketball coach at Otsego High School in Michigan.  Otsego is located about 17-miles north of Kalamazoo.  In 1950 as the basketball coach, he was noticed in many newspapers around the country for the following:

From the Racine Journal Newspaper, January 12, 1950

I found this same story in The Milwaukee Journal, The Wisconsin State Journal, The Chicago Tribune, the Wausau Daily Hearld, the Stevens Point Journal, the Los Angeles Times and the Detroit Free Press to name a few.  As a coach, Stuckwisch was evidentially “old school”.

Bob Stuckwisch…1963 Stratford Yearbook…the best picture I could find of the coach

Stuckwisch moved to Stevens Point as the Director of Recreation for that city but in 1954, at the end of the school year he resigned to go into a business venture in Washington D.C.  Bob moved back to the area and was asked to start the football, wrestling and track programs at Stratford.  He may have been the school's first official athletic director, but the year books didn’t show Stuckwisch as a member of the faculty nor a mention of anyone being the AD.  The 1963 yearbook mentions only one game that the school played as noted below in the picture.  Newspaper searches show no mention of the team until 1963.

So, Stratford appears to have lost their first game in 1962.  But in 1963 they went 3-3-1, posted a 2-5-0 season in 1964 and then they tied for the Marawood Conference title in 1965 with a 5-3-0 overall record. Citing poor health Stuckwisch resigned but stayed in the area.  He had set up an annual track relay competition and he handled that and lived in the Marshfield area. 

Jerry Fitzgerald…WFCA HOF photo

Young, at only 25-years, Gerald “Jerry” Fitzgerald moved from Gibraltar High School in Door County and took over the program.  His Gibraltar teams had gone 10-6 in his two years there but he was even better at Stratford.  The 1966 season, his first, started slow as they posted a 0-2-1 record but then rattled off 20 consecutive wins, finishing 6-2-1 in 1966, 9-0-0 in 1967 and again 6-2-1 in 1968.  His 1967 team earned the school the #2 ranking in the A.P. final poll.  After earning his Masters Degree in Administration, he took the head football coach and assistant principal positions at Tomah.  He would later move to Stevens Point in the same positions at SPASH and would have an overall career 230-117-2 Hall of Fame record at the four schools.

Bob Delaney

Bob Delaney would take over from 1969-75 not only as the head football coach but as athletic director.  Bob had an extensive coaching background, mainly in the college sector before he and his wife Mardie, also a teacher moved to Stratford. They would stay for many years after his coaching ended as teachers at the school.  In 1970 his team snapped Auburndale’s 31-consecutive win streak.  Delaney’s teams were almost always in the hunt for the Marawood title as they had only one losing season in the seven that he coached, and his 1971 team went 8-1-0 and tied for the conference crown.  His final season was 1975 and Stratford went 7-2.  The success of previous coaches was building.

Tom Knauf…WFCA HOF picture

Following Delaney stepping down, his assistant, Tom Knauf took over in 1976 and the school would reach newer heights.    His first team earned a 8-1 record and even though he had two losing seasons in his 12 years at the school (1980 4-5 and 1985 3-6) Coach Knauf produced a wonderful 91-33 record.  His 1986 team went undefeated and earned the WIAA D-5 title going 12-0 with ten shutouts and allowing only 13 points.

1987 Stratford yearbook

Knauf grew up in Marshfield attending Marshfield Columbus High School.  He first coached at Royall and after he left Stratford it was back to Columbus to run the football program twice, once for six years before becoming the defensive line coach at UW-Stevens Point and then back to Columbus to coach his sons and then he retired.

Cal Tackes with one of his teams at Cam Randall

Cal took charge in 1989, and he continued the winning ways without blinking.  In 24-years at the helm, only once in1991 did a Cal Tackes team fail to make the playoffs.  In 1991 the Tigers posted a 6-3 record.  Between 2003 and 2008 his teams won six consecutive state titles, a feat never performed before or since then.  A member of the WFCA HOF Cal ‘s record was a glossy 236-48, a winni9ng percentage of .831 which is currently ranked #5 on the WFCA 200+ coaching wins list.  Cal stepped down as head coach after the 2012 season but continues to help the football team and current coach, Jason Tubbs.

Jason Tubbs...Stratford Hogh School photo

17-years ago Jason Tubbs joined the staff as an assistant and when Cal Tackes stepped down as head coach he stepped in and the success has continued.  Now into his 13th season his teams have kept the streak of making the playoffs now at 33 consecutive years (Since they are currently undefeated with an 8-0 record, they are a cinch to make it this season).  His 2018 and 2019 squads lost in the state finals but in 2022 and 2023 they were D-6 Champions.

A number of schools, large and small, started their football programs after World War II.  Those schools have had very good success.  Fond du Lac St. Mary’s Springs, Waunakee, Edgar, Waukesha Catholic Memorial, Muskego, River Ridge as well as Stratford all started in 1949, sometime in the 1950’s or in the 1960’s and have done well.  Older, established schools as of late…Green Bay East, Green Bay West, Peshtigo, Delafield St. John’s and former Milwaukee powerhouses Washington and Bradley Tech have failed, for many different reasons to continue their past success.

One thing for sure is that whether or not you have had one longtime head coach like those at Memorial, Springs and Edgar or multiple coaches who have kept the school’s winning tradition, one thing is for sure…SUCCESS DOES BREED SUCCESS and it's been shown here with Stratford.  It also helps to have had HOF quality coaches molding their players talents to near perfection. More about how their success has been achieved in a future story.

STREAKS

There are streaks and THEN THERE ARE STREAKS.  Some good, some BAD.

If you look at the record book there are some that stand out and there are some hidden ones.  Here are some of them.

PASSING:

Jonah Kahl of Turtle Lake had quite a 10-game season in 2017.  He holds the record for Moist Consecutive Games, 300 yards or more: Season.  Kahl threw three 300-yard games and three 400-yard games all in his final six games.  His season totals were 318-197-9-3,430-45.  Against Hurley in his final game, a 76-44 loss, Jonah was 58-26-1-452-3, his top passing yardage performance. He tossed seven touchdowns in the lake Holcombe/Cornell 52-16 win that started his streak.  Kahl had eight total 300-yard+ games in 2017.  Jonah led the state in passing in his senior season.

Matt Ferris of Appleton Xavier posted 11 consecutive games with 200-yards or more in a game during the 2013 year.  Like Jo ah Kahl, Matt Ferris led the state in passing with seasonal stats of 419-258-11-3,949-50.   In game 10 he had sis “worst” game of the year, a 38-10 win over Notre Dame, when he completed 20 of 45 attempts for 223 yards and no touchdowns and two interceptions.  Having been injured in week 12’s game against Seymour, he gamely played in the state semi-final game against Greendale, a 44-20 loss.  Despite his injury he was 26-14-1-206-2.

A note on the 2020 COVID season as in the fall, Michael Dul of Mosinee tossed for seven 200+ yard games in his team's only seven games in that shortened season.

RUSHING:

Several running backs are tied for the record of Most Consecutive Games: 300 yards or more. During his groundbreaking 1970 season when he became the first Wisconsin back to run form2,000 yards or more in a season, Dick Barbour of Hillsboro did it.  Next, I had the privilege of attending game three of the 2001 season when Adrian Davis posted his third consecutive 300+ game, just days after 9/11.  Davis would become the first and only rusher to gain 3,000+ yards in a single season as he carried the ball 440 times for 3,422 yards and 43 touchdowns.  He had a total of five 300+ games in 2001.  The final person to do it was Jake Simuncak of South Milwaukee who turned the trick in 2016.

Columbus back Colton Brunell, the state's all-time leading rusher, holds the record for 30 consecutive games with 100-yards or more.

Ass for receiving, I really have no records for things like consecutive games receiving a pass or catching a touchdown or gaining 100 or 200 yards.  I have to work on that.

As far as team records there are a few, both good and bad.

First the good.

Everyone knows that Kimberly holds the record for the moist consecutive wins with 70 covering the 2013-2017 seasons.  The 70-wins beat the 48 consecutive wins by Manitowoc (1983-87) and that of Waunakee (2009-2012).  But what about consecutive shutouts?

Consecutive Shutouts

The official record is 18, set by St. John’s and it is legit as your looking over the records below will show. I’ve included the 1904-06 seasons:

Eau Claire High School which da a dubious 16-game shutout streak declined to meet St. John’s at a neutral site of their choosing.  Lawrence College is now Lawrence University. The Culver game was played at Northwestern University’s field in Evanston IL.  St. John’s was honored as the Military Prep Champion, the Western Prep Champion and the N.C.I Champion.  The win over Beloit Academy was for the North Central Interscholastic trophy.

Because St. John’s was aware of St. Louis utilizing the pass in their win over Carroll College (Now Carroll University) just days before the two met, they may have tried a pass or two of their own against the Pelicans and might have been the first Wisconsin High School to throw a pass.  Just sublimation on my part.  The 27-points by St. Louis ended the shutout streak. Milwaukee West Side later became West Division.

I should point out that many schools in the early history of the sport considered a forfeit as a 1-0 or 2-0 win and added that to their record as well as Alumni games.  Some schools chose to not include Alumni games as part of their records.  The school with the second most consecutive shutouts was the 1903-05 Eau Claire High School squads.  Included in their streak were several questionable games.  One was against a Kennedy Business School, a school that was open for a few years and was run out of a two-room log cabin.  Also, two Alumni games, a game against some local railroad workers (It might have really been just a scrimmage) and a 2-0 forfeit over Fort Atkinson.  Their 1903 10-0 game against Winona MN is a disputed score.

The more “modern” shutout record is held by Cashton who in 1980 won all eight games and in 1981 shutout their first five opponents before allowing a field goal in a 24-3 win over Stratford.  The school won their next six games, also by shutouts and earned the Division 6 State Title.  Only three points allowed in 20-games.  Quite a feat.

The top shutout streak, Most Consecutive shutouts in a Season, was performed by the 2019 Stratford Tigers who posted 12 consecutive whitewashes before allowing Amherst to put seven points on the board in a state semi-final 19-7 win.  Stratford lost the next week min the finals to Lake Country Lutheran in the finals 22-13 to end a story-book season.

Consecutive Losses:

Now, the bad.  It is widely known that Shorewood from 1988-94 had a 63-game losing streak.  Suppressing at the time if you looked at the school’s past performance in the 1930’s-1950’s.  My record book currently shows Green Bay West as having a 45-game losing streak, 2009-2014.  This is surprising as Green Bay West once had one of the all-time best overall winning records.

But I need to update the record book.  I have found that Nort Fond du Lac had an even longer losing streak than Green Bay West.  After a season opening 34-20 win over Randolph in 2016, North Fondy proceeded to lose 53 times.  The streak ended in 2023 when in game two of the season they posted a 20-14 win over Ripon.  However, the school has currently, as of game six of the 2024 season a 63-game consecutive conference losing record that dates back to an October 18, 2013 28-26 win over Kettle Moraine Lutheran.  The conference losing streak may continue, at least for another week, as they play against a tough Mayville squad on Friday, October 4.

During the losing streak I couldn’t find a story in the Fond du Lac reporter newspaper that explained why North Fondy only played three games in 2018.  A game in each August, September and October and there were no game stories to be found. in the paper They had two games cancelled in 2017, but the season record in WisSports just shows the three scheduled games for 2018.  They played seven games in the Spring of 2021, the 2020 COVID season.

So there are some of the streaks that can be found in the record book.

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS IN WISCONSIN 1977…AND A BIT MORE

Before HBO-TV’s 20+ year series “Hard Knocks” that started in 2001 highlighting individual NFL football teams and before MTV’s short series in 2006 “Two-A-Days” about Hoover Alabama’s football team there was H.G. Bissinger’s book “Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team and a Dream” in 1990 about the Odessa Texas team.  That book spawned a movie and several TV series.  Before all these programs arrived on the national scene there was a well-received T. V special about a Wisconsin high school team and its coach.

 Sometime in early 1977 Whitefish Bay coach Bob Albrightson was approached by NBC News/Sports to be the focus during the upcoming high school football season.  I’m not sure why Albrightson was asked to be filmed as there were several other more well-known national coaches to consider.  In particular, one coach was Gerry Faust of Cincinnati Ohio Archbishop Moeller High School.  Faust was the talk of the country after his Crusaders won (Tied in the polls with Warner Robins, GA.) the national mythical national championship by going 12-0 in 1976 and of course winning the Ohio State high school title.  They would again win both titles, state and national, in 1977.

Albrightson was a good coach, spending 14-years as the Blue Devils head coach and 27-years as a teacher.  Bob had a 67-59 record at Whitefish Bay that earned one Suburban Conference 1972 co-title, and his teams finished second four times.  Maybe he came to the attention of NBC because of his many newspaper and professional articles.  He was a very good artist as well, seemingly to specialize in football portraits as posted on the school athletic web page.  As a frequent sports commentator on NPR, he was also often on other talk shows, both local and nationally.  So, that may have been how he was approached to have his season filmed.

1977 Coach Bob Albrightson celebrating a touchdown

A November 17, 1977 news-story in the Waukesha County Freeman newspaper brought a minor controversy to my attention.  The article was focused mainly on Waukesha North coach Dewey Schiele and a few other Suburban Conference coaches.  Entitled “Coaches React Differently to TV Special”, Schiele said in great detail that he was against allowing NBC to put a microphone on him or his players or to even film the team.  Scheduled for Sunday night, December 3, the 10:30-midnight broadcast was on a show entitled WEEKEND and was hosted by Lloyd Dobyns.  The program was fairly well received.  But, as I said, Schiele turned the network and Albrightson down.  Not all of the Whitefish Bay opponent coaches were asked to participate.  Those not chosen told the Freeman reporter that they wouldn’t have allowed the filming even if they had been asked.

Prior to each upcoming game NBC would attempt to get permission to film Whitefish Bay’s opponent.   The 11-team Suburban Conference played an eight-game rotating format of conference opponents and then each team would schedule a non-conference game. On   The reasons for declining on Schiele’s part came from comments by other coaches that NBC was setting Albrightson to be the guy in “the white hat” and the opposing coach would be in “the black hat”.  One coach, Wauwatosa West’s Don Brenner did allow the filming but said afterward that he would never do it again…too disruptive to his coaching style.  During the filming he felt that it was hard to concentrate on the game and that went for his players as well.

Schiele’s and Albrighton’s coaching styles differed a little.  Don Schiele was thought of as a rah-rah type guy.  Bob Albrightson had an oft-quoted philosophy of “winning isn’t everything and football is only a game so it should be fun”. 

Dewey Schiele

Yes, Albrightson would occasionally raise his voice to a player but when he asked Schiele if he had any reservations about being wired, the Waukesha North coach said that he did. Schiele said you had to treat certain players differently.  He said he never yelled or criticized a quarterback, but he could get explosive with a linebacker who missed a tackle.  Those who chose to not to be filmed seemed to bed the more “explosive” coaches in the conference.  You can edit may things, but some word can’t be totally erased.  Besides, those that declined felt that they would be the guy wearing “the black hat” and that could hurt their reputations in one of the state most competitive conferences.

Bill Spaltholz of South Milwaukee said he was never asked to be filmed but would have refused saying that “They’re trying to create an image for one person and you can look bad in contrast”.  Also, it would have distracted from his coaching.  John Richmond of Wauwatosa East said “You put anybody in any job in a pressure situation and he won’t appear like he will in a normal situation”.

Jerry Bowed of Cudahy was not asked but would have declined, admitting that he was a little more volatile than other coaches and was not one to hold back chewing out a player.

Ted Bear of Waukesha South did allow himself to be wired and said the people from the network were professional and he didn’t even notice them except for one instance.  That was at half-time when the filming crew was allowed in the locker room.  The camera’s presence was a bit of a distraction then.  Tony Mooren of the Waukesha Freeman, who wrote the story, also felt surprised that Bear would have allowed the NBC crew to film.  Several years earlier, in a game between South and North, a local station filmed Bear and his staff in an unfavorable light.  However, this experience went well for Bear and his Blackshirts.

In the end, NBC did a fine job in presenting high school football in a favorable light.

More notes:

Dewey Schiele was Waukesha North’s first football coach starting in 1974.  He posted a 34-39 record at North and in 1978 he was named by the Waukesha Freeman as the County Coach of the Year.  His 1975 and 1978 teams were Suburban Conference Champions. Prior to coming to North Dewey was the head coach at St. Francis where he was 26-24.  Often picked to be near the last team in the preseason poll for the Parkland title his teams finished mot seasons in the middle of the pack an in 1973 they went 8-1.  Dewey had a long experience with baseball, scouting for the St. Louis Cardinals for 12-years.  In the movie “Major League” he is in the credits as umpire #6

Nationally #1 ranked Cincinnati (OH) Archbishop Moeller High School not only won the 1976 and 1977 mythical national championships but were voted to the top spot in 1979 and 1980 with Jerry Faust at the helm. After posting a career record of 178-23-2 Faust was chosen to become the head coach at Notre Dame where from 1981-85 he posted a 30-26-1 record. Steve Klonne, Faust's top assistant directed Moeller to the 1982 mythical title.

AFTERWARD:

The first major TV ‘reality” show seems to be when HBO-TV began an NFL reality series called “Hard Knocks” which began in 2001 and continues today, 2024.  The network has covered 20-teams over the 24-years (Filming several teams one different occasions

MTV’s reality show focusing on the Hoover AL team showed a team that was led by a controversial coach, Rush Probst.  To learn more about Probst and his team check out the two attached links:  Two-A-Days - Wikipedia and Rush Propst - Wikipedia.

Friday Night Lights spawned two TV series…”Against the Grain” which ran for a short time in 1993 and one of the stars was Ben Affleck:  Against the Grain (TV series) - Wikipedia.  In 2004 the book inspired a major motion picture that stared Billy Bob Thornton, Derek Luke, Tim McGraw and Connie Britton.  Friday Night Lights (film) - Wikipedia.  Then in 2006 NBC tried again with a TV series with the same name and it ran for five seasons staring Connie Britton, Kyle Chandler Jesse Plemons and Scott Porter, to name a few. Friday Night Lights (TV series) - Wikipedia