The Guillotine News - Remembering Paul Wolf

The Guillotine

Remembering Paul Wolf

January 28, 2008

On January 22 Paul Wolf died of bone cancer in hospice care in Brainerd, MN. Paul was one of the origional board members of the Minnesota Wrestling Federation. He started The Waterville Wrestling Club and later the Lakeville Wrestling Club. Paul was a wrestling official for 40 years. Paul was the head official at the NYWA State kids tournament for years. He was a member of Gold Country Officials Association. Paul was an Olympic alternate, and he wrestled for the University of Minnesota.

Star Tribune Obituary

Paul Wolf
Wolf, Paul age 68, made his transition January 22. He will be deeply missed by his family and many friends. Celebration of his Life at Cremation Society of MN, 7110 France Ave S., Edina on Sat., Feb. 16 at 2:00 PM. No flowers please.
Published in the Star Tribune on 1/27/2008.

The following is from Ron Ackerman's Officially Speaking column which was first published in the April 12, 2006 issue of The Guillotine.

Paul Wolf

I have known this official for a number of years. However, only in the past couple of years have I gotten to hear some of his history and wrestling stories. Paul Wolf is a quiet, friendly man who is always smiling and loves wrestling. Paul started his journey in wrestling in 1954 at Bloomington High School, yes, in the days before Lincoln, Kennedy and Jefferson. He was part of the first wrestling program the school had. He recalls the first year they did not have any matches. They would go over to U High. There he would get tips and techniques from Don Meyers and Pete Veldman.

Paul wrestled 120 lbs. He said that he finished third in the Region as a senior. After graduating high school in 1957, Paul joined the Marines. Paul was stationed in San Francisco. That is where he continued to wrestle, working out at the San Francisco Olympic Paul Wolf

Club, one of the premier wrestling powers at that time. During 1959, they wrestled the Japanese National Team. Paul said he had some very interesting experiences. He said they wrestled matches at San Quentin, for some reason, they only wrestled home matches.

Paul wrestled both Greco and Freestyle at 114.5 lbs. In 1960, Paul finished 2nd at the US Nationals in Greco. This qualified him for the Olympic Trials in both Freestyle and Greco. Paul experienced success during that period. He won the All Marine Championships and a number of California AAU and Western Regional titles. During this time, the All Marine Team had two other Minnesotans, Ron Jacobson from Owatonna and Fred Parker from Brainerd. Paul also crossed paths with Charlie Coffee, who was wrestling for the Army Team. They wrestled in the military tournaments and various opens. Paul remembers the matches at that time were 15 minutes in length. Paul commented, you had to be in pretty good shape to make it through a long day in a tournament.

When Paul got out of the Marines, he came back to Minnesota and wrestled 114.5 for Wally Johnson. This light weight class was not officially recognized by all the conferences. Minnesota had 3 wrestlers at that weight, including Geo Coffee. Paul mentioned that Geo was older. It was common at that time for people to go into the service and then to college. So, 25 year olds were aplenty. The NCAA did not have regulations like they do now. However, the Big 10 did not have the 114.5 lb weight in their conference, so Paul quit wrestling. He said he was too small to move up to 123. Those wrestlers were coming down from 145 or higher. During his U of M experience, he wrestled with teammates Lonnie Rubis, Al Johnson, Harry Schlief, Charlie Coffee and others.

Paul and his family moved to Waterville, Minnesota and bought the Tentoka Lake Resort. Paul continued working for Penny’s Food Markets and left his wife and kids to managing the resort. Paul coached wrestling at Waterville with Dave Williams, a former Anoka wrestler, and started the W Paul Wolf

aterville Wrestling Club. Some of the many wrestlers that Paul coached were the Vaith Brothers from Blooming Prairie. Paul would take Tom, Paul, and Doug all over to wrestling tournaments.

During this time, Paul was also officiating at the numerous tournaments he attended. In the late 60s early 70s there was a power struggle between the AAU and the Federation to control amateur wrestling. Paul did not take sides with either. In fact he was on the board of both groups at the same time. He was also instrumental in starting the New Prague Club with Dr. Berg and the Lakeville Club. Paul and his family moved to Lakeville around 1977.

One of his favorite stories happened when an exchange team from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico came to the US to wrestle. They had been promised if they came a week early, that they would receive a technique camp. However, little to Paul’s chagrin, the AAU had not set anything up. They said Paul, just do it. Sounds like he was working for Nike. Paul scrambled and put the team of about 20 wrestlers and coaches up at his resort. They had tents all over the place. They put mats on the grass and Paul and Ed Kane did the training and drills. Paul said the kids loved it and had a great time.

Paul also hosted a German Exchange Team at the resort. Ed Kane and Paul put a team together from Southern Minnesota. The Waterville High School gym was packed. The match was officiated by Jack Gause and Otis Smith.
Paul continues to volunteer for wrestling. He has worked the tables many sessions each year for the state tournament. One of Paul’s proud moments occurred about four years ago when his grandsons wrestled in the state tournament for Grand Rapids. One of them made the finals. Paul positioned himself mat side for the best seat in the house. Even Scott Erikson could not move him.

Paul has officiated both high school and AAU/Federation wrestling. He worked a number of Junior Nationals and other senior events. He progressed up the officiating ladder achieving a level 1E. He officiated the Final Olympic Trials in 1984 when it was held at Williams Arena. Paul continues to officiate and loves it. He is retired, but he will drop everything and officiate anytime he is needed. He has served as the Head Official for the Northland Youth Wrestling Championships the past 10 years. When asked how long is he going to continue, he says when it is not fun anymore.

Paul has been involved in wrestling for well over 50 years. He continues to have a positive attitude and it is hard to imagine the number of young people that he has had a positive effect on. If you ever get a chance, sit down and talk to Paul, the stories and experiences that he has are unbelievable. His wife, Edna, should be given a wrestling medal for her help and allowing Paul to live out his passion for wrestling.

He is also very proud to let you know he has four children, eight grandchildren, and three great grandkids. It is a good thing he had three sons and six grandsons he could wrestle with or we might have seen more Wolf women in wrestling.