Article published Wednesday, July 22, 2009 HAROLD J. MOUCH, 1921-2009 Sports star, coach sold insurance in Maumee
Harold J. Mouch, a star athlete in high school and a coach who left sports for a successful insurance career, died Sunday in Avalon by Otterbein in Monclova Township. He was 87.
He was in failing health after a stroke in February, his wife, Ruth, said.
He retired formally in 1997 from the agency he operated next to his Maumee home.
He was in charge of selling; his wife was in charge of the office. He was in the office every day before he became ill, said their son Bill, who now operates the agency.
Mr. Mouch began selling life insurance part time while he was head basketball coach at St. Francis de Sales High School, from 1960-62. He taught health and algebra.
He was the father of seven, and "to tell you the truth, he didn't make enough money coaching," his wife said. To support the family, he turned to insurance full time, eventually offering a wide variety of policies, his wife said.
He was competitive in business and respected in the industry, his son said.
With clients - at first, many were former students or their parents - he liked to tell stories and visit.
"In the early years, he was famous for just sitting at dining room tables with families," his son said.
He could be opinionated, even blunt. "You knew where you stood," his son said. Yet, "he was extremely outgoing and funny. He would take care of people."
Mr. Mouch was a 1940 graduate of Central Catholic High School, where he was a running back in four years of varsity football, tied as leading scorer in the city, and made first team All City his senior year. He played three years of varsity basketball and baseball.
He received a football scholarship to the University of Dayton, but after a broken collarbone sidelined him, he entered the Marine Corps under a World War II-era program and played football for Penn State until he was injured.
After he was discharged, he was an assistant football coach and head basketball coach for Central Catholic. In 1946, he was hired at Hamilton Catholic High School, where he became head football coach.
As head basketball coach at Hamilton, he took his team to the state finals in Columbus, where Findlay High School defeated it.
In 1987, he was inducted into the Central Catholic Hall of Fame.
Surviving are his wife, Ruth, whom he married Oct. 23, 1943; sons, Bill, Dan, John, and Rob; daughters, Molly Mouch, Carole Sarian, and Lori Schoen; 35 grandchildren, and 30 great-grandchildren.
The body will be in the Maison-Dardenne-Walker Funeral Home, Maumee, after 3 p.m. tomorrow. Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday in St. Joseph Church, Maumee, where he was a member.
The family suggests tributes to the church, Hospice of Northwest Ohio, Airedale Terrier Rescue and Adoption, Ann Arbor, or a charity of the donor's choice. Permanent Link
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