Dud Richards

Dudley Richards skated pairs with [Maribel Owen]. Together they placed third at the 1959 US Championships and sixth that year at the Worlds, having come to national prominence in 1956 when they were US Junior Pairs Champions. In the 1960 season Owen and Richards finished second at the US Championships, and 10th at the Olympics and Worlds. In 1961 they won the US pairs title, with much expected of them in coming years. But they never competed again. Travelling to the 1961 World Championships aboard Sabena 548, their plane crashed near Brussels, killing the entire US figure skating team. Richards had been a graduate of Harvard, and had been in the Army briefly. He worked as a real estate executive and was a close friend of future US politician and senator Ted Kennedy.