Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1914-03-13
ALMA RICHARDS
ATTRACTS NOTICE
Shipmate of Iron County Ath.
lete Tells About Victory
at Stockholm.


est natural athletes that ever lived,
says writer in the St. Louis Globe
Democrat. Richards is the holder Of
the Olympic record Of eject 4inches,
made at Stockholm in 1912, where he
defeated such high jumpers as Geo
rye HORNE, the holder of the worlds
record of 6 feet inches; Egon Erick-
son of the Mott Haven Athletic club
of New York, and Liesh, the great
German jumper.
Richards shows nothing in his jump
ing outside of an amazing power to
jump. He clears the bar in an awk-
ward fashion, with little of the clay
out" of the trained athlete. Previous
to 1912 Richards knew nothing Of
jumping He is 6 feet inches in his
socks and weighs 200 pounds-some
heft to hurl over feet A inches with
the consistency he does.
In June, 1912, the students Of Bing-
ham University, the preparatory de-
partment of which he was attending,
Olympic games tryouts at Chicago.
He came unheralded. The writer was
an also jumped" competitor in the
high jump event on that occasion, and
caught sight of big, raw-boned lad
with his knees wrapped with rubber
bandages. Orchards afterwards told
= me that he threw his knees out Of
joint in wrestling match with town
bully on the streets of Provo, Utah,
When but lad Of 49, He wore a
sky blue shirt with great white "Y"
on 1t, which | mistook for miscon-
ception on the wearer's part for the
emblem Of Old Ell or Yazoo MISS
high school,
Scoffers Are Shown.
Richards, however, Indignantly in
formed me that the big "Y" stood for
Brigham Young university, and asked
in surprise, Never heard Of the best
u. in Utah?"
Needless to say the college and club
men in competition, when they lam,
ped his "form' over the easy heights,
calculated, "Well of all--Say! who
let him in?v But they changed their
tune whei Richards refused to be
shaken off, finally topping" at feet
inch, and saying, "Fudge, thought
you guys could jump"
Even then he had hard time con-
vincing the selectors Of the team in
Chicago that his performance was not
fuke. Coach Stage of Chicago uni
versity stood pat for the big Utah boy,
however, and he was finally chosen to
represent the Stars and Stripes in
Sweden.
The writer was stateroom mate of
Richards on the sojourn of the Fin
land. / had lots of respect for the
big one, but l didn't think he could
cope with such champions as HORNE,
Erickson and Grumpelt.
Richards kept declaring that 6 feet
inches would win the Olympic crown.
Most people admitted this height
would win, but they couldn't see what
NIcHdTuS was uIiNlfiB az.
Finally one athlete said; "Well,
where do you come In, even II feet
does win? You never did that height"
1t happened to be In the daily poker
game on the trip across the Atlantic,
and the speaker had just bet "half."
Calls the Smart One.
Richards's eyes cleaned.
No; smarty, l never jumped 6 feet
A, but / will, and II! just raise you a
bone, too"
1t was up to the big one to do "six
four" but he never seemed afraid OF
being branded first-class "piker" by
his teammates. On the day of the
high jump preliminaries Richards
managed to fall over feet 2 by the
width of mosquitoes whisker" anc
qualify for the finals the following
day.
In the finals he missed every height
twice from feet inches to 6 feet
3 inches, but each time cleared the bal
with his heart in his mouth on the
third trial.
Liesch, the great German, was the
athlete in the best "form" that day
clearing every height up to 8 feet
inches on the first trial, although he
appeared to extend himself on the last
height. He didn't appear to bC
through, though, and Richards knew
that the only way to beat the German
was to scare him.
At the height of feet 4 inches
Richards approached the bar will
blood in his eyes on his first trial
Gathering his numbering body h
hurled himself over the height will
space to spare. Richards afterwar'
said that the jump took all he eve
had The German didn't know II
however, and the apparent ease of tn,
effort beat him. He approached tn
bar hesitatingly and the clapping q
the crowd frustrated him. He wa
beat after three nervous, falterini
4uioIs p;cha rda inst eyrinna1 In fha