Alma W. Richards is the first Mormon athlete to receive national recognition. He wins a gold medal (high jump) at the Olympics, and in 1954 is inducted into Helms National Hall of Fame and the U.S. Track and Field Hall of Fame. Other Mormon Olympic medalists are Lloyd Butler (1948, gold, eight-oar rowing crew), Jean Saubert (1964, two bronzes, skiing), H. Blaine Lindgren (1964, silver, track hurdles), 17-year-old Jackson S. Horsley (1968, bronze, swimming), L. Jay Silvester (1972, silver, discus), Kresimir Cosic of Yugoslavia (1972, bronze; 1976, silver; 1980,gold, basketball team), Bo Gustafsson of Sweden (1984, silver, 50K walk), Tauna Kay Vandeweghe-Mullackey (1984, silver, volleyball team), Cory Snyder (1984, silver, baseball team), Peter Vidmar (1984, two gold and one silver, gymnastics), Troy Dalbey (1988, two gold, swimming), Mike Evans and James Bergeson (1988, silver each, water polo team), Tory Tanner (1988, gold, basketball team), Kristine Quance (1996, gold, swimming) (likely more since Quinn compiled this list). Jean Saubert is inducted into the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame (1976), Peter Vidmar is inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame (1995). Although not Olympic medalists, Alberta Williams Hood is inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame (1967), and Pedro Velasco into the National Volleyball Hall of Fame (1970). In addition, the following Olympians receive their medals before joining the LDS church: Robert Detweiler (1952), Paula Meyers Pope (1952, 1956, 1960), Jack Yerman (1960), Kresimir Cosic (1968), and Mark Schultz (1984). The 1976 Olympics also gives a gold medal (decathlon) to RLDS Bruce Jenner. He is inducted into the U.S. Track and Field Hall of Fame (1980), and into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame (1988). Three Mormons become medalists at the Olympics for Physically Disabled (Para-Olympiad) in 1976. Michael R. Johnson, double-amputee Vietnam veteran, wins four medals (two gold, one silver, and one bronze). Curtis Brinkman, double amputee since age sixteen, wins three medals (one gold, two bronze), and paraplegic Garry Treadwell wins two medals (silver and bronze). Michael P. Schlappi and John C. Brewster win gold medals at the Para-Olympiad (1988), and Schlappi wins a gold medal again (1992). Mandy Kunitz, Down-syndrome Mormon, wins her gold medal at the Special Olympics (1996). Other LDS athletes win medals at the World Games: Keith Russell (silver, diving, 1973), Wayne Young (gold, gymnastics, 1974), Richard George (bronze, javelin 1975), Becky Hamblin (bronze, tumbling).
[Source: The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
... Bryce Harper (baseball) with the Washington Nationals.
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