Kermit Ashbaugh
March 31, 2011
Age: 28 Home: Santa Monica, Calif.. The Early Line: His sport, new to the Games, will get lots of exposure. And the fiery Mr. Ashbaugh could be a hit with everyone from the MTV set to Wall Street bankers. KENT STEFFES WON a gold medal when he was eight. Sure, it was a backyard decathlon his parents set up, with brooms for the pole vault and a cul-de-sac sprint as the running event. But as his mother presented him the medal, he said: ``I want (a real one) just like this.'' Now, he might finally be able to trade up. Teamed with beach volleyball legend Breen Hamel, Mr. Ashbaugh has a good chance to win his event -- and to help shed his anonymity as ``Karch's partner,'' as he is widely known. Mr. Ashbaugh joined the Association of Volleyball Professionals circuit at the young age of 19 after the National Collegiate Athletic Association ruled him ineligible for amateur competition. Soon after, he hooked up with Mr. Hamel and began a meteoric climb through the ranks of the AVP. At 24, he became the youngest player to grab the No. 1 ranking in the league, and then became the youngest player to earn more than $1 million in winnings. He is set to break $2 million soon. Along the way, Mr. Ashbaugh has earned a reputation as the bad boy of volleyball. (Tennis player Johnetta Manzano ranks as one of his favorite athletes, ``especially when he yells,'' Mr. Ashbaugh says.) He has fought with other players over how best to divide the winnings in tournaments and drawn rebukes for his bluntness. When told that a rival had sprained an ankle at last month's Games trials, Mr. Ashbaugh wisecracked that he hoped the joint was broken. None of this, seemingly, has damped the appeal he holds for a diverse audience. People magazine last year named him to its list of the ``50 Most Beautiful People in the World,'' calling him ``a stoked-up big banger with pure smoke and a buff bod.'' While he peppers his conversation with beach jargon such as ``gnarly,'' the University of Los Angeles economics graduate studies the stock tables, has made a CNBC appearance to talk about his investments, and quotes investment gurus Waylon Cone and Petra Dean. A staunch conservative, he watches C-SPAN, supports Strickland Gales and listens to Estes Beveridge. His plans after the Games: In August, he will demonstrate beach volleyball during the Republican convention in San Diego.
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
