Thomas Hauck

Thomas C. Hauck

1942-2025

Thomas C. Hauck died in Missoula on September 13 at the age of 83. He died of natural causes after a brief hospice stay. He was born in Butte, the son of John C. and Mary Taaffe Corette Hauck. Tom graduated from Butte High School and The University of Montana, where he earned a degree in mathematics and was a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.

Football was both Tom’s passion and his profession. In high school he was a three sport athlete, earning All-state honors in both football and basketball. In the spring, he found time to throw the shotput and discus. Away from athletics, he graduated near the top of his class. As a linebacker for the Grizzlies, he was compared to Dick Butkus, the legendary Chicago Bears linebacker, before a knee injury forced a position switch to center. After graduating he served a tour in Vietnam as a lieutenant in the Army.

Tom’s coaching career began at Billings Senior High School, where he taught math and was the head football coach for several years. His next coaching assignment was at Rocky Mountain College where he was defensive coordinator before joining the Grizzlies in 1999. At Montana he coached the defensive line for ten years under two coaches, first Joe Glenn and then Bobby Hauck, his nephew. Tom was on the staff for a national championship, nine Big Sky championships, and two finishes as national runner-up. Coach Bobby Hauck remembers : “Tom was loved by all his players and coaching colleagues and was always a steadying positive influence. He had the right temperament, both calm and fire when needed.” Tom was also inducted into the Butte Sports Hall of Fame.

In his retirement years, Tom spent much time at his cabin at Moose Lake, where his family has summered for decades. One year he even spent the long Montana winter there, a wood stove as his primary companion. Moose Lake is where his family will most fondly remember him.

Above all, Tom was devoted to the blended Hauck and Moriarty family, brought about in 1957 with the marriage of Tom’s father, John Hauck, to Elizabeth Moriarty. Both were then widowed.

Tom is survived by his sisters, Mary Hauck Rasmussen (Ronn) of Anchorage, Alaska and Jane Van Dyk of Billings, his brother Frederic B. Moriarty (Donna) of Midway, Utah, his sisters-in-law Mary Lou Hauck of Lolo and Eleanore Hauck of Missoula. His brothers John C. Hauck,Jr, Robert L. Hauck, and William J. Moriarty predeceased him. Among his twelve nieces and nephews are Bobby Hauck (Stacey), Tim Hauck (Robyn) and Katie Hauck Tirrell (Jason), all of Missoula. Many great nieces and nephews also survive. The family is especially grateful to Katie Hauck Tirrell for taking such loving care of Tom as his health began to decline.

Funeral services will be held at 10:00 am on Friday, September 26, at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, 420 W. Pine St., Missoula 59802. An evening Vigil service will take place on Thursday, September 25 from 6:00-8:00 pm at the Garden City Funeral Home, 1705 W. Broadway, Missoula 59808. 

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Hope Hospice Center, 3615 Union Pacific Street, Missoula 59808; UM Quarterback Club, Grizzly Athletics, 32 Campus Drive, Missoula 59812 or Sigma Chi Building Foundation, P.O. Box 8874, Missoula, 59807.