2LT RALPH K. REDDEN, USAF
Class
1954
Born
September 16, 1931
Died
April 21, 1955
Age
23
Hometown
Douglas, Arizona
Lucky Bag Yearbook
From the 1954 Lucky Bag:
Ralph Kitridge Redden
SQUASH—4. VARSITY N CLUB—3,2,1. FOREIGN LANGUAGES CLUB—4,3. ENGINEERING CLUB—3. VARSITY: SQUASH—4,3,2.1. TENNIS—4,3,2,1
Ralph came to Usnay via Douglas High in Douglas, Arizona, and Arizona State College at Tempe. In high school he won two letters each in football and track. As captain of the track team in his senior year, he broke the Southern Conference record for pole vault. Here at the Academy he continued in the field of sports but shifted his emphasis to squash and tennis. His speed and agility have aided considerably in these sports bringing him a varsity letter in squash his youngster year. He couldn’t be accused of slashing, even though his class standing was well in the upper half. During most of his free time one could find him in his rack; that is, when he was not playing a sport or dragging.
He was captain of the squash team, and ranked 10th in the individual national standings. He was also a member of the tennis team and of the 10th company staff for both fall and the “third set.”
Loss
Ralph was lost “while in flight training” on April 21, 1955 when his plane crashed northwest of Greenville, Mississippi.
Other Information
From researcher Kathy Franz: “Ralph’s record-smashing pole vault was 11 feet even on April 30, 1949. He was co-captain of the track team. His father was a carpenter in building construction, his sister was Joyce, and he also had a brother.”
He is buried in Arizona.
Class of 1954
Ralph is one of 37 members of the Class of 1954 on Virtual Memorial Hall.
