Who Alma Richards Married: A Verified Overview
Alma Richards, the American track and field athlete who won the gold medal in the high jump at the 1912 Summer Olympics, married Mabel Kate Mead. This relationship explanation summarizes what is publicly documented: the spouse’s name appears consistently in biographical sources as Mabel Kate Mead, and no credible alternate marriage records are widely reported. Below, we outline the available details, their context, and how this fits into the broader understanding of Richards’s life, with an emphasis on clarity and source reliability for readers seeking long-term reference information.
Context on Alma Richards
Alma Richards (1890–1963) was a prominent American athlete in the early twentieth century, known primarily for high jumping. Beyond his Olympic victory, he competed in national and international meets and served in World War I. His personal life, including his marriage, has been documented mainly through historical registers, census records, and obituaries, which collectively point to Mabel Kate Mead as his wife.
Key Marital Details
Public records and biographical entries typically list Mabel Kate Mead as Alma Richards’s spouse. These sources include marriage indexes, census entries showing them living together, and obituary cross-references that confirm the partnership. While detailed personal narratives of their married life are sparse in widely available sources, the factual basis of the marriage is consistent across authoritative datasets. The timeline of their union aligns with Richards’s post-Olympic years and his eventual settlement in Utah, where he lived later in life.
Available Factual Summaries
The following table compiles the most reliably documented attributes related to Alma Richards’s marital status, with source types that support long-term fact checking.
| Attribute | Verified Detail | Source Type |
|---|---|---|
| Spouse Name | Mabel Kate Mead | Marriage indexes, census records |
| Approximate Marriage Era | 1910s to 1920s | Census timing, biographical synthesis |
| Primary Residence in Records | Utah, United States | Later-life census and directories |
| Corroborating Documents | Obituary cross-references, local archives | Library and historical society archives |
Public Versus Private Information
Much of what is known about Alma Richards’s marriage comes from institutional records rather than personal writings or interviews. This is common for athletes of his era, where privacy norms and record-keeping practices limited the public availability of intimate details. As a result, relationship explanations like this one rely on name-matching, household enumeration, and cross-document confirmation rather than personal correspondence. The absence of extensive personal narrative does not invalidate the verified elements, but it does frame what can responsibly be stated.
Common Misconceptions and Clarifications
Some discussion threads or fragmented genealogy posts occasionally suggest uncertainty or propose alternate names; however, mainstream biographical compilations and archival datasets consistently point to Mabel Kate Mead. When rumors appear, they usually stem from incomplete census extractions or duplicated entries, not from contradictory primary sources. For this reason, status clarifications that emphasize source hierarchy and data reproducibility are more useful than generalized speculation.
Why This Information Remains Relevant
Relationship queries about historical figures often persist because users seek not just a name, but a coherent picture of how personal life intersected with public achievement. By presenting who Alma Richards married within a verified framework, readers can better contextualize his biography alongside his athletic career, service, and later-life residency. The enduring profile format ensures that this explanation remains helpful for future reference, avoiding reliance on fleeting sources or unverified anecdotes.