Milton College Athletic Hall of Fame inductee Kenneth 鈥楽kip鈥 Oberbruner, pictured here corralling a basketball, was a multi-sport star at both Milton College and at Milton Union High School during the 1960s.
The 9-0 1975 Milton College football team, the entirety of which is inducted into the Milton College Athletic Hall of Fame. The HOF and homecoming celebration is Saturday.
Milton College Athletic Hall of Fame inductee Kenneth 鈥楽kip鈥 Oberbruner, pictured here corralling a basketball, was a multi-sport star at both Milton College and at Milton Union High School during the 1960s.
The Milton College Preservation Society is hosting its annual homecoming celebration on Saturday and will be expanding the Milton College Athletic Hall of Fame with four new inductees.
On the 50th anniversary of its undefeated season, the 1975 Wildcats football team will become the first team to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Joining the 1975 team in the Hall will be three individuals, including two Milton High School standouts Skip Oberbruner and Richie Rusch. Nancy Schubart Gansor, a dominate center on the school鈥檚 women鈥檚 basketball teams of 1979-鈥82 will become the third member of that team that compiled an incredible 63-15 record to be inducted into the Hall.
Saturday鈥檚 event begins at 11 a.m. and the public is invited to join about 100 Wildcats alum for a walk-through of Main Hall to view its most recent upgrades and exhibits, including the new Abolitionist/Civil War Room. An event tent will be erected between Main and Whitford halls under which the Preservation Society will be serving tailgate food and beverages. A $10 registration fee is encouraged.
A program is slated to begin at 2 p.m. at which Milton community icon and Wildcat graduate Kris Koeffler will receive the Pillar of Milton Award. The program will then move onto the Hall of Fame inductees.
The Milton College Athletic Hall of Fame was established in 1970 and incudes 77 honorees, cited for their outstanding athletic careers. The Hall was expanded even after the school closed in 1982. Not since 2005 have there been athletes added to the Hall 1975 Football team.
The 9-0 1975 Milton College football team, the entirety of which is inducted into the Milton College Athletic Hall of Fame. The HOF and homecoming celebration is Saturday.
Fifty years ago in the fall of 1975, Rudy Gaddini was entering his sixth season as head coach of the Milton College football team seeking to build on the steady progress he鈥檇 infused into the program. The Wildcats were coming off a 5-4 season the prior year, the second winning record in Gaddini鈥檚 tenure.
Although the Wildcats were returning a wealth of talent from the 鈥74 season, there was no way for Gaddini to know Milton College was about to post its best-ever single season finish with a 9-0 record.
Prior to the 1975 season, Milton College had two undefeated football seasons. The 1935 Wildcats, coached by Milton College Athletic Hall of Famer George Crandall finished with a 6-0 record. The 1956 team duplicated the feat by going unbeaten in six contests. The 鈥56 Wildcats were coached by Athletic Hall of Famer Red Oberbruner.
Playing in the newly formed Illini-Badger Conference, the Wildcats opened the season with two non-conference wins at Dubuque University, 28-22, and at home against Bethel College, from St. Paul, 37-27.
The Wildcats opened play in the new conference with a 35-3 win against old rival Lakeland College. The Wildcats winning ways continued with a convincing 33-7 win in Watertown against Northwestern. Milton improved to 5-0 with a 29-9 win at home against Eureka College of Illinois. The Wildcats then began gaining state and national recognition with a 37-13 win over Northland College 鈥 running their conference record to 4-0 and clinching at least a tie for the conference title. At that moment, Milton ranked seventh in the nation among NAIA Division II schools. The top four ranked teams in the nation qualified for postseason play.
Against Concordia for Milton鈥檚 homecoming celebration, the Wildcats posted a 32-6 win with five fourth-quarter touchdowns. The Wildcats jacked their record to 8-0 with a 58-7 mauling of North Park in a non-conference game and final home tilt of the season.
Sophomore running back Chuck Baranek ran for 110 yards and three touchdowns. The next week at Jackson, IL, the Wildcats, ranked fifth nationally, closed out a 9-0 season with a 21-0 win over Illinois College.
Having completed the only unbeaten season among NAIA Division II schools, the Wildcats had to wait a week before knowing if they would be invited to play in either the Boot Hill Bowl or Mineral Bowl as the NAIA selection committee decided bids. With only four teams chosen for two NAIA bowls, the fifth ranked Wildcats learned after an anxious week of waiting that they would not receive a bowl bid.
Quarterback Brian Bliese reeled in several post-season awards. The Grafton native completed 99 of 189 passes for 1,517 yards, 19 touchdowns and just five interceptions.
He was named first-team all-conference quarterback and Gaddini was coach of the year.
Jeff Hirschinger caught 33 passes for 605 yards and nine touchdowns and Dan Devine, Jr. snared 25 for 423 yards and four scores. Mike Pascale led the team in rushing with 605 yards and eight scores, and Baranek had 455 yards and seven TDs.
Delavan native Darwin Logterman was named conference defensive player of the year.
Other Wildcats earning all-conference recognition were center Scott Sawicki, linebacker Steve Corn, defensive back Terry McHugh, Hirshinger, Devine, defensive tackle Joel Cler, linebacker Bill Reukauf, defensive back Tim Casey, tackles Jeff Wuel and Steve Wasechek, and defensive end John Turkowski.
During his nearly three years on the Milton College campus beginning in 1967, Kenneth 鈥淪kip鈥 Oberbruner proved to be one of the most accomplished and versatile athletes in the history of the college. Oberbruner is the son of legendary Milton College coach, Kenneth 鈥淩ed鈥 Oberbruner.
Following a stellar Milton Union High School athletic career, in which he won 11 varsity letters and quarterbacked Milton High School鈥檚 undefeated football team in the fall of 1965, the 1966 graduate attended the University of Wisconsin to play baseball.
In November 1967, Oberbruner enrolled at Milton College to play three years on the basketball and baseball teams for his father, and two years of football under head coach Ted Scalissi. After having to sit out the first semester of the 1967-68 basketball season,
Oberbruner made an immediate impact on the Wildcats season. In eight games, Oberbruner, a 6-foot-4 forward, scored 130 points for a 16-point-per game average and grabbed 80 rebounds. The following year, Oberbruner averaged more than 12 points per game and 11 rebounds while playing with Wildcat basketball greats Chuck Didier, Ron Grovesteen, Ken Tanner, Dick Holman, and John Briedenbach. Oberbruner averaged 11 points and 11 rebounds per game during the 1969-70 season. Oberbruner totaled 557 points in his two-plus years on the Wildcats basketball team.
Oberbruner鈥檚 impact carried into the spring where in 1968 he entrenched himself in centerfield for a team that was coming off a 23-2 season. Oberbruner led the team in hitting with a .452 average 鈥 28 hits in 62 at-bats. He smacked four doubles, two triples and four homers. He finished with 17 RBIs and led the Wildcats with 10 stolen bases.
During the 1969 season, Oberbruner batted .373 with four homers and 14 RBIs. He led the team with 14 runs scored. In 1970, Oberbruner posted a .439 average with six homers and led the team with 18 RBIs.
Oberbruner perhaps made his biggest impact on Wildcats sports on the football field.
The tall, fast wide receiver teamed with quarterback Ron Grovesteen as one of Wisconsin鈥檚 top small college passing combinations. In 1968, Oberbruner hauled in 44 passes for 736 yards and 12 touchdowns. His 72 points scored on the season established a new school single season scoring record. Oberbruner nearly duplicated those impressive statistics the following year. In 1969, Oberbrunner caught 36 passes for 738 yards and six touchdowns.
Oberbruner鈥檚 1,454 receiving yards and 18 touchdowns set Wildcat career receiving records. Against Minnesota Southwest State in October 1969, Oberbruner established school single game receiving records when he caught nine passes for 174 yards.
Nancy Schubart Gansor arrived on the Milton College campus in 1979 and was the dominate inside force of the Wildcats women鈥檚 basketball teams that posted an incredible 63-15 record the final three years of the school鈥檚 existence through the 1981-82 season.
Nancy Schubart (44) was a dominant force on the successful Wildcat women鈥檚 basketball teams of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Schubart, a Peshtigo native, and Cynthia Powers were teammates at Marinette Central Catholic High School and recruited to play basketball at Milton College by head coach Brian Bliese. Jean Zielinski was also a freshman on the 1979-鈥80 team. The trio, each of whom would have graduated in 1983, finished their three-year careers atop the Wildcat women鈥檚 team all-time leading scorers. Powers finished with 1,185 points, Zielinski, 1,052, and Schubart, 976.
Schubart, a 6-foot-5 center, made an immediate impact during her freshman season when the Wildcats posted a 22-2 record. Schubart averaged 14 points per game and just over 13 rebounds. She blocked 144 shots, an average of six blocks per game.
In 1980-鈥81, the Wildcats finished 21-7 and won their 20th consecutive Wisconsin Independent College 鈥 Women鈥檚 Athletic Conference game. Schubart averaged 10 points and 11 rebounds per game. She again averaged six blocked shots per game.
The Wildcats finished with a 21-7 record in 1981-鈥82, the school鈥檚 final year. Milton finished 12-0 in conference play to complete a run of three consecutive undefeated WIC鈥擶AC championship seasons. Schubart averaged 16 points and 16 rebounds per game. She finished with 228 blocks, an incredible average of nine per game.
With a year鈥檚 eligibility remaining when the school closed, Schubart played her senior season at UW-Whitewater. Schubart also played on the successful Wildcat women鈥檚 volleyball and softball teams.
Richie Rusch came to Milton College in 1976 and became a four-year staple of the Wildcats front line for basketball coaches Dale Race and John Breidenbach. Rusch was a four-year starter for Milton High School, graduating in 1976 as the school鈥檚 all-time leading scorer 鈥 a mark he held until 2022.
A 6-foot-7 forward, Rusch anchored the front line for the Wildcats in the same manner as his older brother Bill, who played three years for the Wildcats in the mid-1970s.
In his freshman season, the Wildcat鈥檚 posted a 16-14 record and Rusch averaged 12 points and seven rebounds per game. The following season, Rusch averaged 12.6 points and eight rebounds per game.
The Wildcats posted a 17-16 record during Rusch鈥檚 junior season in 1978-鈥79. Rusch led the team in scoring with an average of 16.2 points per game. He grabbed 195 rebounds, an average of 6.4 per game. His senior season, Rusch averaged 11.6 points and six rebounds per game.
Rusch finished his four-year career with 1,564 points, a 13.1 per game average. Rusch is third among Milton College career basketball scorers, trailing only Chuck Didier (1969-鈥73) and John Hayek, (1971-鈥73). Didier and Hayek finished with just over 2,000 points each. Rusch鈥檚 789 rebounds rank fifth all time in school history.
Rusch, a multi-sport athlete, played one year of golf under coach Dale Race and two years of baseball under coach Jim Johnson as a power hitting reserve first baseman.
