August Louis "Augie" Wolf (born September 3, 1961) is an American former
field athlete known for throwing the
shot put
The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...
. He is a graduate of
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
. He is a former United States indoor shot put national champion, United States outdoor shot put national champion, and an Olympian. A member of the
Republican Party, he sought the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate for Connecticut in 2016 against
Democratic incumbent
Richard Blumenthal
Richard Blumenthal (; born February 13, 1946) is an American lawyer and politician who is the senior United States senator from Connecticut, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he is one of the wealthiest members of ...
. He was defeated at the state Republican convention by state representative from
Bethel
Bethel ( he, בֵּית אֵל, translit=Bēṯ 'Ēl, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; el, Βαιθήλ; la, Bethel) was an ancient Israelite sanct ...
,
Dan Carter
Daniel William Carter (born 5 March 1982) is a retired New Zealand rugby union player.
Carter played for Crusaders (Super Rugby) in New Zealand and played for New Zealand's national team, the All Blacks. He is the highest point scorer in ...
.
Career
Wolf studied and trained at Princeton University from 1979 to 1983, becoming the record-holder in the Ivy League with a throw of 67-2. After training in Leverkusen, Germany, with TSV Bayer 04 he placed 2nd in the 1984 Olympic Trials, earning a spot on the
American team at the
1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...
, placing fourth in the
shot put competition. Wolf won the Indoor National title at the February 1984 USA-Mobil Indoor Track and Field Championship at the
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...
with a throw of . He was the 1984 United States National champion. Wolf placed fifth at the
1983 World University Games in
Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
,
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
.
Wolf's career personal bests were in the shot put and in the
discus throw
The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...
.
During his athletic career, Wolf was involved in one drug testing violation. The
International Association of Athletics Federations
World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...
(IAAF) initially banned Wolf for life after ruling he had refused post-match testing on July 7, 1985, in
Byrkjelo
Byrkjelo is a village in the municipality of Gloppen in Vestland county, Norway. It is located about halfway between the villages of Sandane (in Gloppen) and Skei (in Sunnfjord) along the European route E39 highway. The village of Re lies abou ...
,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
. Supported by the
USA Track & Field
USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and ...
Federation, he appealed citing errors in the testing notification. The ban was reduced to an eighteen-month suspension and he returned to competition in 1987.
Personal
Wolf was raised in
St. Paul, Minnesota, and is a 1983 graduate of
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
.
He works for Lebenthal Wealth Advisors and is on the Board of Holborn.
He has four children.
One son, A.J., born 1994,
redshirted
Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...
as a
college football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
Unlike most ...
sophomore
defensive tackle
A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the la ...
for the
2014 Duke Blue Devils. A.J. was a four-time New York State
NYSAIS Champion in the shot put and discus, and a Junior National shot put champion.
He was also a four-year
letterman
Letterman may refer to:
* Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States
People
* David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host
** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...
and two-time
New York State Sportswriters Association
The New York State Sportswriters Association (NYSSWA), founded in 1967, is a source of reference information and statistics about scholastic athletics in the state. Begun by sportswriters Larry Serrell of the Schenectady Daily Gazette and Chuck Ko ...
(NYSSWA) All-State selection in football. Son Alexander was 2014 Gatorade Basketball Player of the Year in the State of Connecticut and will attended and play for Dartmouth College in 2014. Son Andrew will attend University of Connecticut in 2014. Daughter Abbie will be a junior at Greenwich High School.
Wolf founded and leads ''US Athletic Trust'', a sport NGO providing support and advocacy for American Olympic athletes,
and was named Trustee of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Foundation in 2014.
[ After the series of U.S. Olympic scandals in 2018, he also cofounded ''Olympians Rising'', a non-profit group of Olympians and friends supporting urgent reform to the ]U.S. Olympic Committee
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 as the United States Olympic Committee, and is headquartered in Col ...
and rebuilding the U.S. Olympic program from the ground up. He is also on the Board of the Friends of Princeton Track.
Politics
Wolf sought to be the 2016 Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
candidate for Connecticut's U.S. Senate seat, currently held by Democrat Richard Blumenthal
Richard Blumenthal (; born February 13, 1946) is an American lawyer and politician who is the senior United States senator from Connecticut, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he is one of the wealthiest members of ...
. He was defeated by state representative Dan Carter
Daniel William Carter (born 5 March 1982) is a retired New Zealand rugby union player.
Carter played for Crusaders (Super Rugby) in New Zealand and played for New Zealand's national team, the All Blacks. He is the highest point scorer in ...
at the state Republican convention on May 9, securing less than the 15% of delegates required for an automatic primary. On May 11, Wolf announced that he would attempt to force a primary by collecting the signatures of 8,079 registered Republicans by June 7.
On October 19, 2015, billionaire, industrialist David Koch
David Hamilton Koch ( ; May 3, 1940 – August 23, 2019) was an American businessman, political activist, philanthropist, and chemical engineer. In 1970, he joined the family business: Koch Industries, the second largest privately held c ...
held a fundraiser for three Senators and August Wolf in his campaign for United States Senate against Blumenthal.
On June 1, 2016, The Hartford Courant reported that a former campaign staffer Samantha Menh filed a suit against the Campaign, August Wolf, and Campaign manager Baylor Myers, alleging breach of contract. The lawsuit also claimed Wolf violated federal and Connecticut campaign laws, and cited several unsubstantiated claims of untoward behavior. It was said by the attorney representing Baylor Myers that "we will present evidence that Ms. Menh had planned to quit her job with that previous employer and bring a false claim of sexual harassment to leverage a settlement. The allegations made in this lawsuit are false and we can prove it.” On October 19, 2022, six and a half years after Ms. Menh had filed her original complaint, Ms. Menh voluntarily withdrew her complaint against Wolf, without any financial settlement. A jury trial had been scheduled on commence on November 1, 2022, less than two weeks later.
2016 Connecticut Republican State Convention
After gaining the support of over 17% of the delegates in the first round of voting (over the 15% hurdle for ballot access), Wolf's supporters were then aggressively lobbied by Super Delegates, and about 50 switched to Carter before the final tally. Upon failing to secure 15% of the delegates at the State Republican Convention, Wolf decided to petition onto the primary ballot.
He failed to gather the required signatures of 2% of registered Republican voters, 8,079, and the state Secretary of State verified just 5,280 signatures on June 21, 2016. August Wolf failed to force a primary with party endorsed candidate Dan Carter. He then suspended his campaign.
See also
* List of Princeton University Olympians
This is a list of Princeton University alumni who competed in the Olympic Games. In this list, the term athletics refers to track and field.
Summer Olympians
#Robert Garrett, class of 1897, men's athletics, 1896 Athens Olympics, 1900 Paris Oly ...
Notes
External links
*
*
Biography
at Ballotpedia
Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...
Issue positions and quotes
at On the Issues
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolf, Augie
1961 births
Living people
American male shot putters
Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics
Connecticut Republicans
Olympic track and field athletes of the United States
Princeton Tigers men's track and field athletes
Sportspeople from Saint Paul, Minnesota
Track and field athletes from Minnesota
Princeton School of Public and International Affairs alumni