Louis “Louie” Vito August was born August 23rd, 1911, in Matera, Italy. He and his family emigrated to America on April 25th, 1913, and settled down in Spokane, Washington. He graduated from Lewis and Clark High School in 1932 - which is where he met his future wife, Virginia Rose Kennedy.

In his later high school years, August had taken an interest in boxing and started building up an exceptional record. By the time he graduated, he had won the Pacific Coast AAU championship in 1931 and had a total of 33 fights to his credit; 30 of which were wins and 14 by knockout.

When August started at the University of Idaho in the fall of 1932, he had approached the athletic authorities in hopes of obtaining a job. He was soon hired by the physical education department to teach a boxing course. Not too long following his employment, Louis approached Leo Calland, the Director of Athletics, where he expressed his interest in starting a boxing club. Calland agreed and placed an advertisement in The Argonaut, the University of Idaho’s student newspaper. By November of 1932, there were a total of three students who had joined and began training with August. The club steadily grew in popularity and by February of 1933, the boxing club had an additional 22 participants.

Louis graduated from the University of Idaho in 1936. Upon graduating, he was signed on as Head Coach for the university’s boxing team (1936-1941) and soon married Virginia Rose Kennedy on June 16th, 1937. With WWII underway, Louis enlisted into the Army on July 15th, 1941, entering as a Lieutenant, he eventually advanced to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. After being discharged on November 15th, 1947, Louis, Virginia, and their son Patrick moved back to Spokane, Washington where he would spend the rest of his life. Louis August died on September 11th, 1978.

Collegiate boxing at the University of Idaho was discontinued in 1954. At the end of its time, the team had collected sixteen individual national titles, three team national titles, and twenty-four Pacific Coast Championship crowns. The coaches that followed Augusts’ time, was Bob Knox (1941-43), Ken Butler (1947-48) and Frank Young (1948-1954). The few missing years between Knox and Butler was due to the team temporarily disbanding for a few years following WWII. The University of Idaho’s boxing team had also produced a few notable national champions as well, including; Herb Carlson, Laune Erikson, and Ted Kara.