Steve, at far left, with his WIAA football officiating crew at the championship last Friday at Camp Randall.

For senior mortgage lender Steve Luebke, last Friday marked the end of an era, as he officiated his last high school football game — the Division 2 state championship at UW Madison’s Camp Randall Stadium.

Steve when he’s not on the field.

“It was a very fortunate way to end my career,” he says, noting that the game was intense and that the frigid weather only added to the excitement. The Kettle Moraine Lasers took down the West De Pere Phantoms, 27-10.

Steve has been officiating football games for the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association for over 25 years. He started officiating WIAA basketball games before that, in 1990, and still does that too.

“Around 1995 or ’96, Wisconsin football went from a four-person officiating crew to five-person, and some friends I did basketball with asked if I’d be interested in being a fifth person on their crew,” he says. “And I’ve done it ever since.”

After playing basketball and football in high school himself, Steve wanted to remain involved with athletics, but already knew in college that a career in business would make coaching — which requires a near-daily commitment — challenging. “Officiating was my way of staying connected,” he says. “I just think high school athletics is very important, on many levels, for these kids — in terms of leadership, teamwork, and more.”

Football season requires less time from him than basketball.

“If you’re only working varsity-level games, the football season is only nine weeks long,” he says. Earlier in his officiating career, he also worked lower-level games on Thursdays or weekends. A regular Friday-night varsity game takes about four hours for a referee, including arriving an hour ahead of kickoff and wrapping things up afterward. And then a ref might spend time during the week reviewing rules related to the game they just called. “Sharpening your ax, if you will.”

Training-wise, WIAA officials have to do a fair amount of self-education, Steve says, reading up on regulations and looking at plays. It’s common to also join a local association of officials and even to attend camps where veteran officials offer instruction.

Steve estimates conservatively that he’s officiated over 300 football games. (“Basketball’s a lot higher, because you’re working four to five games a week.”) This was his third state championship as an official. Getting selected to officiate a championship is partly about experience and also about rotating through officiating crews to give lots of officials a chance to do it.

That’s partly why it made sense for Steve to bring things to a close with this season, he says. “It’s nice to end with a championship, and generally, you get to do one every five or six years or so. So if I stayed with it, it would likely be a while before I got to do this again. It was important to me to leave on my terms.”

He plans to continue officiating basketball games for the foreseeable future, and is grateful for the numerous highlights of his quarter-century on the football field — which include working games featuring future NFL players like J.J. Watt and Joe Thomas. He also notes that his work as an official has helped him off the field, in his personal life and at work. “It helps you handle stressful situations, makes you a better listener, and improves your interpersonal communication skills,” he says.

Steve adds: “I’m going to miss the games and the people — there’s a fellowship. It’s a tough job, because 50 percent of the people love you and 50 percent hate you every time you blow your whistle! But it’s been a great opportunity to get to know a lot of people in different walks of life.”