Dwight C. Hauff

SIOUX CITY -- Dwight C. Hauff, 104, of Sioux City passed away Friday, July 24, 2009, at NorthPark Senior Living.

A celebration of life service will be held 11 a.m. Friday, July 31, 2009 at Grace United Methodist Church in Sioux City, with the Rev. Tony Nester officiating. Graveside services will be 9:30 a.m. Friday in Hillside Cemetery at Merrill, Iowa. Visitation with the family present will be 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Meyer Brothers Morningside Chapel, 6200 Morningside Ave. Condolences may be sent online to www.meyerbroschapels.com.

Dwight Hauff was born Jan. 23, 1905, in Merrill, Iowa, to Conrad and Claudia (Crouch) Hauff. He graduated from Merrill High School in 1922, and from Morningside College in 1926. He played basketball and baseball for Morningside College and was named to the All Conference Team in basketball in 1926. He taught and coached at Merrill High School after graduating from Morningside College.

He married Ruth Berner on April 25, 1931, in Des Moines, Iowa. She died in May of 1997 in Sioux City. In 1929, Dwight went to work as a road salesman for A.G. Spaulding in Sioux City. He took over the business and in 1933, he and Evelyn Peterson incorporated their store. He was a sporting goods dealer for more than 75 years. Dwight continued to go to the Hauff's Sporting Goods Store in Sioux City until early June of this year. In 2005, he was named America's Oldest Worker at the age of 100. He appeared on the Jay Leno Show after traveling to Washington, D.C. to receive the honor sponsored by Experience Works. The company now has six stores, Hauff Sporting Goods in Sioux City and Omaha, Dakota Sports in Sioux Falls, and Rapid City, S.D., Iowa Sports Supply in Cedar Falls, Iowa and Dakota Lettering in Sioux Falls.

Dwight served two terms on the NSGA (National Sporting Goods Association) Board of Directors and was president in 1960. He was inducted into the Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame in 1986 and also had served on the Hall of Fame Committee. He received the Sporting Goods Dealer's Lifetime Achievement award in 1994. In 1996, Dwight was inducted into the Greater Siouxland Athletic Association Hall of Fame. He was presented with the Dealer of the Century award in May of 2005 at the NSGA Management Conference & Team Dealer Summit. He served on the National Operating Committee for Safety of Athletic Equipment and on the organizing committee for the Sioux City Relays every year since its inception. He was in attendance at the Sioux City Relays in 2009. He was an honorary referee for the Howard Wood Relays in Sioux Falls.

He was a member of Grace United Methodist Church, Morningside Masonic Lodge #615 A.F. & A.M., the Sioux City Consistory, Abu Bekr Shrine Temple, the Kiwanis Club and the Dakota Dunes Country Club.

Survivors include his daughter, Anne Shaner and her husband, Gary of Sioux City; his son, Steve Hauff and his wife, Sue of Sioux Falls, S.D.; four grandchildren, Janet Shaner of Lausanne, Switzerland, Ellen Shaner of Sioux City, Curt Hauff and his wife, Jessica of Sioux Falls, and Jerry Hauff and his wife, Amy of Sioux Falls; and three great-grandchildren, Nate Hauff, Ethan Hamman and Aiden Hamman.

He was preceded in death by a sister, Viola Todd and her husband, Harold; and a brother, Warren Hauff and his wife, Elizabeth.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to Morningside College Athletic Scholarships or Grace United Methodist Church.