Coach Hauk
Coach Rick Hauk used to always ask us why we were passing the ball to the other team, then sometimes he’d break a smile and maybe pat you on the back and encourage you to run your hardest. He had a way and even though Coach Hauk’s Parkinson’s took his nerves at the end, the disease didn’t take the impact he made…
…On a brisk Monday back in 1987, Coach Hauk jogged over to a group of us kicking soccer balls like football field goals over the crossbar moments before soccer practice. Coach smiled and asked us how many points we’d made with all those field goal kicks through the uprights. I said 6 field goals for 18, Donny said 24. “Great – you could play football, if we had a team,” Coach quipped. “Now that’s how many laps you have to do – get moving.” Rick Hauk impacted thousands of students at my school growing up as the Coach and gym teacher and, when the school needed it, a health class substitute. In one class, Coach took the health students down to the gym where we played keep away. Physical education is making a resurgence again after losing ground over the past decade. Teachers like Coach Hauk are part of an era that made students accountable and helped them see the value and joy in sports before the travel sports movement started to take that away. He died this past week after a long struggle with Parkinson’s disease – a disease that slowed him down and took his nerves – but not his story. At his funeral yesterday, the coach’s former players came to show support for a man who never really asked for much – just that you show up and put in effort. He helped a generation of us kids see the potential we had and the value of work ethic. At halftime down a goal in a semi-final, he came over, not thrilled, and said “I think you all know you can work harder out there – I believe in you – I’ll give you the halftime to think about what you need to do,” then he walked away back to the sideline, his gait perfect, confident, his head looking up at the sky. We all looked at each other - it was the shortest halftime speech ever, and probably the best. 10 minutes into the 2nd half I scored from the top of the box with curve ball to the upper right corner. It would be the only goal I would score in high school. We went on to win 2-1….
There is thankfully progress on Parkinson’s research. Advances to watch include a drug in development from Abbvie that has potential to treat motor fluctuations in patients with an advanced form of the disease and a drug from Biogen designed to slow down or inhibit production of an active gene called LRRK2 that damages cells and impacts function.
The disease may have won for now but if researchers continue to find ways to stop deterioration in Parkinson’s patients, maybe, just maybe, folks like Coach Hauk can have another chance run on a field, coach a few kids, and maybe for old time’s sake, even kick a few soccer balls through the uprights.