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State's all-time longest winning streaks in boys basketball

04/21/2020, 2:45pm CDT
By Mark Miller

Germantown coach Steve Showalter guided the Warhawks to a state-record 69 consecutive wins

The count of high schools in Wisconsin that have fielded interscholastic varsity basketball teams over the past 70 or so years numbers more than 550.

Many -- remember Ondossagon or Mauston Madonna? -- have long since closed their doors. But that doesn't mean they might not have had players and teams that enjoyed tremendous success on the hardwood.

Milwaukee Lincoln is one such school. The Comets were a WIAA powerhouse in the 1960s and owned the state's longest winning streak for many years before Whitefish Bay Dominican broke Lincoln's mark of 60 straight victories with 62 in 1980. Lincoln closed in the 1980s, but many oldtimers recall those Comet teams being among the best that ever played in the state.  

WisSports.net is attempting to put together some interesting historical data regarding high school basketball statistics in this state. It isn't easy to find all the data we would like, but thanks to the help of old newspapers via Newspaper.com, we have been able to garner a good deal of information. 

We start off with a listing of programs that have won a minimum of 45 straight games in the table at the end of this article. 

Germantown tops the list at 69 games and the Warhawks set that mark earlier this decade. 

Following is a brief look at teams in Wisconsin who have notched at least 60 wins in a row. If you know of others to add to this list, please contact me at wbnews@yahoo.com.   

Germantown (69 in a row from 2011-14)
Coach Steve Showalter was the mastermind behind an incredibly dominant program at Germatown, a school known more for its success on the gridirion than on the basketball court prior to Showalter's arrival in 1999. His teams in 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14 terrorized opponents with a devastating press, a highly effective fast-break and a tougher-than-nails mindset en route to winning 69 consecutive games. Brookfield Central finally ended the Warhawks' dominance with 68-58 triumph on January 14, 2014, but Germantown went on to win the WIAA Division 1 title two months later, its third successive state crown. Showater's two sons, Zak and Jake, were integral parts of the success at the school as were standouts such as Luke Fischer, Josh Mongan, Lamonte Bearden, Evan Wesenberg, Brian Bearden, Jon Averkamp and Dan Studer, among others. After winning those three straight Division 1 titles, Germantown went 27-1 and lost to Stevens Point in the 2014-15 Division 1 final, ending a remarkable four-year run with a 109-3 record.

Dominican (62 in a row from 1977-80)
Mark Moore. Greg Dandridge. Joe Emmerich. Nicky Johnson. Dannie Jones. Mike Lemon. Chris Neumann. The list goes on and on. Some absolutely terrific players helped Dominican High School to 62 consecutive victories in the late 1970s under coach Don Gosz. Dominican dropped a 64-55 decision to Sussex Hamilton in a non-league game on November 21, 1977 and then won 62 in a row before sustaining a 58-57 triple overtime loss in January of 1980 to Milwaukee Thomas More, which featured an import player from New York City named Nigel Wallace. Dominican won WISAA Class A state championships in 1978 and 1979, and then lost in the semifinals of the annual event held at the Milwaukee Arena to eventual-champion Milwaukee Marquette in 1980. The Knights accomplished their impressive feat playing in what, at the time, was generally considered the state's most competitive league, the Milwaukee Metro Conference. Dominican had been a doormat in the league throughout most of the 1960s and through the mid 1970s until Gosz came along and with him, a boatload of talent. The Knights have never looked back as Dominican continues to rank among the elite basketball programs year in and year out in Wisconsin. By the way, here is where those names at the top of this profile played college basketball -- Moore, University of Detroit; Dandridge, University of Wisconsin; Emmerich, St. Norbert; Johnson, Minnesota-Duluth; Jones, Nevada; Lemon, St. Norbert; Neumann, Minnesota-Duluth. 

Editor's Note: You could make the argument Dominican actually won 72 straight games since the loss to Thomas More was later overturned due to the fact Thomas More used an ineligible player in the game. That inelgibile player was none other than Wallace, who, as it turned out, did not have legal guardian living in Milwaukee at the time he attended Thomas More. However, Gosz himself considers the streak to be 62 and the school actually has a banner hanging in the gym that refers to the streak at 62, not 72. 

Milwaukee Lincoln (60 in a row from 1960-63)
The Comets were a prolific-scoring team out of the Milwaukee City Conference and rode the strong play of All-State forward Max Walker (6-1) to WIAA state championships in 1961 and 1962. In the 1962 state-title game, Walker scored 27 points to help the Comets turn back Eau Claire Memorial 93-80 in front of 13,519 fans at the University of Wisconsin Fieldhouse. Coach Dick Wadewitz, who later served as the head coach at UW-Platteville, engineered the Comets' 60-game winning streak, which ended on January 19, 1963 with an 86-75 City Conference loss to Milwaukee North. Walker went on to play at Indiana University and later coached Milwaukee Rufus King to a runner-up finish in the 1971 WIAA State Tournament, losing 79-68 to Janesville Parker in the title game.

Longest Winning Streaks in Boys' Basketball History

SCHOOL YEARS COACH NUMBER
Germantown 2011-14 Steve Showalter 69
Whitefish Bay Dominican 1977-80 Don Gosz 62
Milwaukee Lincoln 1960-63 Richard Wadewitz 60
Marathon 1974-77 Tom Weinkauf 58
Randolph 2002-05 Bob Haffele 58
Cassville 1993-95 Dennis Uppena 57
Appleton Xavier 2016-18 Matt Klarner 53
Auburndale 1992-94 Tim Anderson 51
Wilmot 1989-91 Tom Reigel 51
Wisconsin Dells 1986-88 Jack Capelle 50
Appleton Xavier 1962-64 Torchy Clark 49
Watertown Northwestern Prep 1989-91 Paul Bertolus 49
Racine St. Catherine's 2004-07 Bob Letsch 47
Madison Edgewood 1960-63 Dave Brown 46

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