- Sport: Football
- Years Attended: 1936-1940
- All-American
- 1939 College All-Star Game
Al Wolff is one of the best football players most people don't know. This is because he went to college for school, not for football. To get himself noticed by colleges, Al played football for Mission High School but only in his senior year because his coach promised to help him get a college scholarship, which eventually worked Al’s way. He was named to the San Francisco All-Star Team and offered scholarships to Stanford, UC Berkeley and Santa Clara. Al chose Santa Clara because they would pay not only for tuition and room and board, but also books as well. While at Santa Clara, Wolff was part of the team that put Santa Clara football on the map, beating LSU twice for two Sugar Bowl wins. This gave Santa Clara its first two bowls wins in history. Al was awarded All-American for two years, one of them awarded by consensus. Wolff stated after these victories that “Football put Santa Clara on the map.” From the All-American season, Wolff was invited to play in the 1939 College All-Star Game. After his stellar career at Santa Clara, he was to go pro to play for the Chicago Cardinals, yet he declined stating, "I played football in college to get an education, not to get my brains scrambled!". After graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering, Al continued to show the Jesuit lifestyle by returning to the University of Santa Clara as coach, one of the founding members of the Bronco Bench Foundation, and a Regent of the University for 10 years. After SCU, he worked his way up the ladder for FMC by never refusing an opportunity and always preparing himself for a new role.
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