Business owner Dwight Hauff, 100, is America's oldest worker
for 2005
ARLINGTON, Va., Sept. 27 /PRNewswire/
-- Experience Works, the nation's largest provider of training and
employment services for older workers, announced today that Dwight
Hauff, 100, owner of Hauff Sporting Goods in Sioux City, Iowa, is
America's Oldest Worker for 2005.
For 73 years, Mr. Hauff has
supplied schools, sporting leagues and corporate accounts with
quality sports equipment and apparel, yet despite the growth of his
business he has continued to provide a high level of customer
service with a personal touch. Today, the 100-year-old businessman
owns a chain of sporting goods stores that includes, Hauff
Mid-America Sports, Dakota Sports, Inc., and Iowa Sports Supply
Company.
Mr. Hauff joins a group of seven
other centenarians previously selected as America's Oldest Worker.
Says Mr. Hauff, "I plan to go on living, and definitely keep
working."
Born January 23, 1905, Mr. Hauff
graduated from Morningside College in 1926. He taught math and
economics for three years and had planned to go into business with
his father who owned a hardware store. But in 1929, the Stock Market
crashed and instead he went to work for Spalding Sports Worldwide.
When Spalding decided to close the Sioux City store, Mr. Hauff
opened his first sporting goods store, and when Spaulding closed
their store in Omaha, he expanded into Omaha. In 1940, Mr. Hauff
incorporated Hauff sports with his partner Carl Haase and they
continued to expand into Nebraska and South Dakota.
Mr. Hauff believes in hard work.
"I worked many more hours when I was younger. Often worked all week
plus four nights during the war periods, when it was difficult to
get help," said Mr. Hauff. "Football games, sporting events, they
are all part of the business."
The Experience Works(SM) Prime
Time Awards Program is the only national program that, each year,
honors the contribution of working seniors. Now in its eighth year,
the Prime Time Awards Program seeks to remove barriers to employment
and lessen negative stereotypes about older workers.
Mr. Hauff, along with 52
outstanding older workers from every state, the District of Columbia
and Puerto Rico, are being honored September 26-29 in Washington,
D.C., as part of the Experience Works Prime Time Awards Program, the
nation's premier older-worker recognition event.
During Prime Time week, Experience
Works also recognizes outstanding employers of older workers.
Companies being honored this year include City of Hope in Hope,
Ark.; Clearwater Suites Assisted Living Community of Alexandria,
Minn.; Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company in Hershey, Pa.;
and Hannaford Brothers Supermarket & Pharmacy in Greenwich, N.Y.
