The Blackshirts would go 7-0-1 in 1964 as they tied South Milwaukee for the conference title. 1965 brought an indifferent record of 4-3-1. In 1966 they would lose to South Milwaukee but again tie for the conference title as the team posted a 7-1-0 record. In 1968 Hollub directed the team to a 7-0-1 record as the team tied West Milwaukee 7-7 and earned the conference championship. Waukesha would go 6-2-0 in 1969 and finish second in the Suburban. The following year Waukesha earned a 7-1-0 season record in 1970 and a ranking of #5 in the press polls. 1970 would begin the schools four year run (1970-73) as Suburban Conference champs. 1971 saw the “Shirts” lose the final game of the season, 21-14 to Wauwatosa East but their 7-1-0 record earned them a tie along with three other teams for the conference crown. Cudahy was the team that beat Waukesha in 1972 but really the Blackshirts beat themselves in a 8-6 loss to the Packers as they fumbled 11-times (Losing four) and quashing all but one drive. The team tied Whitefish Bay for the conference crown as they posted a 8-1 record. Even with the good record, fumbles, besides the huge amount in the Cudahy game, hurt the team throughout the year. This was the schools ninth conference title under Hollub in 18 seasons and their 19th overall Suburban Conference title. The team had a great tight end and three starting backfield juniors who looked forward to 1973.
Coach Hollub believed his 1973 team would go 6-3 even with the returning lettermen as he worried that the line might not come together. The 1973 team had many stars, none greater than John Anderson who could do it all on the field. Anderson was not only an all-state end but a super linebacker and kicker. He earned County Player of the Year honors. An all-round athlete, Anderson also earned all-county honors in basketball and tennis. He would go on to star for the University of Michigan and the Green Bay Packers as a linebacker. Many of the linemen had been back-ups the previous year and when the season opened with a close 7-0 win over Cudahy things looked like it might be tough going for the team. But, besides John Anderson, offensive tackle/defensive lineman Mark Parson and defensive end Kurt Holm earned All-Suburban honors. Running back Dean Hilmer, quarterback Steve Schoepke and guard Rick Close earned spots on the All-County team. With this much talent it is hard to believe that the team finished 8-1, losing to South Milwaukee 54-35 and tying them for the conference title. Waukesha would end up ranked #6 in the AP poll and co-champion South Milwaukee (Also 8-1) moved up to the #9 spot. The week before the South Milwaukee game Waukesha was ranked #2 in the polls, close on the heels of Antigo, which would be named #1 in the two polls for the second consecutive year.
While not as dominate as the Blackshirts, the “Red Rockets” of South Milwaukee had plowed through the conference with only one hiccup, a 22-20 loss to Wauwatosa East. The shocking loss to South Milwaukee was hard for the team to absorb. In the previous 16 games they had given up only 52 points. They were coming off a huge win against Shorewood, 76-0. In the 54-35 loss halfback Kevin Kuchevar for the Red Rockets had a 70-yard punt return, two touchdown runs of 68 and 65 plus a 63-yard interception return. He gained nearly 200-yards rushing. Back Jim Lofy had an 82-yard kickoff return. Waukesha couldn’t score without South Milwaukee getting big plays soon afterwards. The Blackshirts didn’t have any fumbles and only the one interception but were outgained 330-173 on the ground. They didn’t have the big plays that South Milwaukee was able to come up with. The team was just outplayed. On the morning after the defeat, coach Hollub had his players on the practice field at 8am to work out the mistakes from the previous night. It was a grueling two hour practice but the team corrected their mistakes. They closed the season a few days later with a 21-0 shutout, their sixth of the season, against West Allis Hale.
As a team they forced 41 turnovers while committing 24. Individual efforts were many but none as strong as that performed by John Anderson. As a tight end he caught 33 passes for 416 yards. He scored nine touchdowns, kicked 45 of 48 extra points and four of eight field goals for 111 total points. On defense he led the team with 49 solo and 86 total tackles along with three fumble recoveries, two blocked kicks and intercepted four passes from his middle linebacker position. He punted for a 45.1 average and his kickoffs boomed to a 49.5 average. He even completed his only pass attempt for a first down on a fake punt. In 1993 he was voted by the press and coaches in a statewide poll to the Milwaukee Journals Team of the Century as a first team end, first team linebacker and an honorable spot as a kicker.
Other stat leaders were Dean Hilmer who led the team on the ground with 842 yards on 148 carries. He caught 10 passes for 186 yards and added 404 yards on punt and kickoff returns. He was second on the team in scoring with 12 touchdowns (72 points). As mentioned before, Steve Schoepke directed the offense as he threw more passes, 128, and completed more balls, 70, for, more yards, 922, than any other Waukesha player up to that time. He also tossed 12 touchdowns, also a school record, and he only had nine interceptions. Schoepke also rushed 51 times for 275 yards and seven touchdowns. Fullback Mark Malinowski chipped in with 598 yards on 101 tries and nine scores.
1974 brought new changes to the football scene in Waukesha. The city was expanding and the athletic program faced a similar situation to what Wausau had faced. In that area there had been just the local public high school for many years but with a population growth spurt in the area a Catholic high school (Newman) was created in 1951 and then in 1970 the school district split into three public high schools…Wausau East, Wausau West and DC Everest. There had only been one public high school in Waukesha but during the 1920s through the late 1940s there was Waukesha Technical School, a facility for boy’s who had trouble with the law. The two schools didn’t play each other and there were very few newspaper stories about that school’s athletic program. In 1949 Catholic Memorial opened and syphoned off some of the players that would have attended Waukesha High. Now, a second public high school, Waukesha North opened in 1974 as the school district split. A third public high school, Waukesha West would open in 1993. Waukesha High School became Waukesha South and remained the Blackshirts. In their first meeting with North in 1974, they won 30-16 and went on to post a 5-4 record. The 1975 season would be Ken Hollub’s second to last as head coach. The year didn’t start well as the team was 0-4 at the beginning but the Blackshirts went on a five game win streak and finished 5-4 for a middle of the pack standing in the conference. Their final victory over Wauwatosa West helped the second year Waukesha North program (With a 7-2 record) to tie for the conference title along with three other teams, just as South had done in 1971.
1976 was a repeat of the two previous seasons as South again went 5-4. In April of 1977 South appointed Hollub as the athletic director and while he wanted to keep coaching the school administrators didn’t want the AD splitting time with a single team. At age 49 he stepped down as the head coach and he remained in the AD position until 1988. The head coaching job went to former star, Ted Bear. Ken Hollub’s career as head coach was now complete but it was capped off a few years later by his being named to the WFCA Coaches Hall of Fame in 1982. In 22 years at Waukesha HS and then South he posted a career 133-41-8 record including, in a 17 year stretch, a mark of 112-21-6 with 10 outright or shared Suburban Conference championships. The football stadium at Waukesha South was named after “coach”. He passed at age 88 in February of 2016.