Aspen Books

When Lorenzo Snow walked up the temple stairs alone in 1898, he had no idea he would encounter the glorified Savior standing before him—a divine meeting that would not only transform his life but establish a new pattern of immediate prophetic succession during one of the Church's darkest financial hours.

During this sacred encounter, the Savior instructed him to immediately reorganize the First Presidency rather than waiting the customary period—guidance that Snow promptly followed. Though he rarely shared the full details publicly, this profound experience occurred when the Church faced severe financial difficulties and needed decisive leadership.

Snow's subsequent powerful testimony that "as surely as the sun shines... just so sure is it that Jesus lives" carried the weight of personal witness, reinforcing the belief that Christ actively directs His Church through living prophets and establishing a pattern of immediate leadership succession that continues today.

In 1912 Stockholm, as seasoned athletes from around the world prepared for Olympic glory, a farm boy from Parowan, Utah stood quietly among them—a stranger to formal training but possessing an extraordinary gift no one had yet recognized, not even himself.

Alma Wilford Richards never dreamed of Olympic gold. Born in 1890 to a humble farming family, his hands were calloused from labor, not from gripping medals. Education took a backseat to survival, yet Richards harbored a thirst for knowledge that led him to Beaver Branch Agricultural College with ambitions of becoming an engineer.

Fate intervened when an observant teacher noticed something special in the way the lanky young man moved. "You should try track and field," the teacher suggested—words that would alter the course of Richards' life forever.

With barely any formal training, Richards found himself on a ship to Stockholm as part of the 1912 U.S. Olympic team. He wasn't a favorite; he wasn't even a known entity. Yet when the high jump competition began, something remarkable happened.

As established jumpers faltered, Richards cleared 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 meters)—a height that secured him the gold medal and etched his name in history as the first Latter-day Saint Olympic champion.

His victory wasn't just personal triumph; it was living proof that greatness can emerge from the most unexpected places. Richards didn't have elite coaching or state-of-the-art facilities—just raw talent, determination, and one person who believed in him.

Though he passed away in 1963, Alma Richards' legacy endures in Utah's Sports Hall of Fame and in the hearts of underdogs everywhere who dare to leap higher than their circumstances suggest possible.

Come Unto Christ The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints BYU