Dudley Richards

Dudley "Dud" Shaw Richards (February 4, 1932 – February 15, 1961) was an American figure skater who competed in men's singles and pairs. In singles, he won the bronze medal at the 1953 United States Figure Skating Championships and finished sixth at that year's World Figure Skating Championships. In pairs, he once skated with future Olympic gold medalist Tenley Albright, before later teaming up with Maribel Owen. After winning the bronze medal at Nationals in 1958 and 1959, the pair captured the silver in 1960 and finished tenth at that year's Winter Olympic Games. In 1961, Owen and Richards won the gold medal at the U.S. Championships and finished second at the North American Figure Skating Championships.

As a skater, Richards was described as handsome, elegant and charismatic. At the time, ice skating had associations with wealth and privilege and male figure skaters wore formal attire and were seen as ballroom dancers on ice. Handsome Richards personified this ideal.

Background Richards was the son of Byron Richards Jr. and Ruth Ross Richards. He grew up in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, where he began skating on a local pond with other children in the neighborhood. He joined the Providence Figure Skating Club and began entering skating competitions at age nine. When he was eleven or twelve, he took the train to Boston to take lessons at the Skating Club of Boston. His drive to skate was innate and unprompted by his socially privileged family, who wondered why he was so interested in the sport.

He attended Providence Country Day School in Providence, Rhode Island, and graduated at seventeen. He then completed a post-graduate year at Belmont Hill School in Belmont, Massachusetts, where he was captain of the sailing team and led his team to victory as skipper of the sailboat in a sailing competition for students at schools in the Eastern United States. Their skating partnership ended abruptly when Richards "hit a rut during a toss" while they ran through a skating routine and Albright fell and lost consciousness. Albright's father refused to let her continue as a pairs skater and told Richards and Albright to focus on skating individually. Both Albright and Richards were later successful as singles skaters, but Richards preferred pairs skating. In 1953, after Button turned professional, Richards qualified to compete in the men's singles division at the world figure skating championships in Switzerland.

In May 1951, Ted Kennedy asked Richards to help him cheat on a Spanish exam by taking the exam for Kennedy. Richards refused to cheat and Kennedy persuaded another classmate to take the exam. Richards graduated from Harvard, where he majored in history, in 1954 and then spent two years in the U.S. Army. He was stationed in Garmisch, West Germany and skated at a nightclub for $50 per night. The Army also taught Richards how to help people defect. He was able to make arrangements for one or two people to defect during his time in the Army. His relationship off the ice with Owen developed into a romance during their final months. Friends noted the way they held hands and how they gazed at one another. He was interred at Swan Point Cemetery in Providence, Rhode Island.

Legacy In 1962, Richards' brother, Ross Richards, established the Dudley Shaw Richards Memorial Award to help aspiring figure skaters at the Providence Figure Skating Club in Rhode Island. The Dudley S. Richards Memorial Ice Skating Rink opened in Providence in 1969 and remained open until 1979, when it was sold to United Skates of America, which operated roller skating rinks.

On January 28, 2011, Richards was inducted into the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame as part of the 1961 U.S. World Team.

Results (men's singles) Event 1947 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 World Championships 5th 5th 6th U.S. Championships 2nd J 3rd J 4th J 1st J 4th 3rd

(pairs with Maribel Owen) Event 1958 1959 1960 1961 Winter Olympics 10th World Championships 10th North American Championships 2nd U.S. Championships 3rd 3rd 2nd 1st