Education
Richards graduated from Brigham Young in 1913, and from Cornell University in 1917, where he was also a member of the Quill and Dagger society.
lawyer teacher athletics competitor
Richards graduated from Brigham Young in 1913, and from Cornell University in 1917, where he was also a member of the Quill and Dagger society.
Born in Parowan, Utah, Alma Richards was an eighth grade farm boy who decided to stop school and explore the world. But shortly after his departure he met a Native American named Thomas Trueblood who convinced Richards to return to school. At Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, Brigham Young University coach Eugene L. Roberts saw Richards playing basketball, and instructed him to jump over a six-foot-high Barometer
He did so easily.
The coach then proceeded to raise money to get Richards to the 1912 Trials in the High Jump. The Olympics did wonders for his self-confidence, and whereas he was once just a marginal student, his aptitude and attitude now were boundless. He thrived at Cornell, in the classroom and on the track.
He was far and away the United States" best decathlete due to enter the 1916 Olympic Games, not to mention its best high jumper.
Winning two gold medals was a distinct possibility. But those Games were never held, because of the outbreak of World War I.
After graduating with honors from Cornell, Alma attended graduate school at Stanford, before enrolling in law school at the University of Southern California.
He got his law degree and, as high jumpers do, he passed the Barometer But he chose not to practice law.
Instead he went into teaching.
Richards was buried, according to his wishes, in the Parowan Cemetery.