Alma Richards
Alma Wilford Richards was an American athlete. He was the first resident of Utah to win a gold medal at the 1912 Olympic Games, in Stockholm, Sweden, in the running high jump event.
Biography
Richards graduated from Brigham Young prep school in 1913, and then attended Cornell University with a scholarship, where he was also a member of the Quill and Dagger honor society, and earned a law degree.He taught science at Venice High School in Los Angeles for 32 years. Richards was buried, according to his wishes, in the Parowan Cemetery. He was posthumously inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame, Helms Hall of Fame and Brigham Young University Hall of Fame.
Personal life
Richards’ first wife was Marian Gardiner Richards. They married in 1918. They had three children, Joanne Richards, Marion Richards, who died in infancy, and Carolyn Richards, who died when she was 2 years old. His second wife was Gertrude Anita Huntimer Richards. They married in 1932. They had three children: Mary Richards Schraeger of La Habra Heights, California; Anita Richards Ricciardi of Whittier California; and Paul Richards of Los Angeles, California. His third and final wife was Lenore Catherine Griffin, whom he married in 1948. They did not have any children. Richards was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, their first member to compete in the Olympics.A movie, Raising the Bar: The Alma Richards Story was released in April 2025. It was written and directed by LDS filmmaker, T.C. Christensen, who is a grand-nephew of Alma Richards.