The 1933 final
The Schenectady Gazette reported the result on 30 May 1933, describing the winner as an Akron girl of 12 - the sponsoring newspaper's region rather than her town, which was Twinsburg, a few miles north. The naming convention of the era followed the paper that had sent the speller.
Her winning word was torsion, the twisting of an object under load, from the Latin torquere. The runner-up, George Meltzer, was eliminated on propitiatory - a longer and more forgiving word, in that a speller who knows the root propitiate can build it.
Twelve years old in 1933
The competition she won was small, national and entirely a newspaper enterprise. Papers ran regional bees, chose a champion, paid for the trip to Washington and printed the outcome. The Depression was at its deepest that spring, which sharpened both the prize money and the interest.
At 12 she was young for a final that usually favours the oldest eligible competitors. Nothing in the sources used here describes how she prepared or who coached her.
The career that followed
Her obituary, published in the Akron Beacon Journal in August 2003 under her married name, Mercer, records a life spent teaching, with her career at Solon Middle School ending in 1983. She died on 31 July 2003.
It is the second of only two documents in this file, and it is the one that makes her more than a name on a champions list. Half a century in classrooms is the substance; the spelling title is the headline that got her an obituary.
Why teaching recurs
Several champions of this era ended up teaching, which is less a coincidence than a consequence. The bee selects for children who enjoy the structure of language and who can hold an audience's attention while they work through a problem aloud.
It is also a period effect. For a bright American woman born in the 1920s, teaching was one of the few professional paths open without argument, and the bee's female champions of the 1930s went into it in numbers.
Torsion
Torsion is short, technical and Latin. It belongs to the family of words English took directly from mechanics and medicine, where the spelling stays close to the root and the pronunciation drifts.
Venti domande, otto minuti di orologio e un percentile misurato su tutti quelli che l’hanno fatto. Senza registrazione.
Fai il test del QI →Words of that kind reward a speller who has learned Latin stems rather than one who has read widely. A 12-year-old who could spell torsion under lights in 1933 had done systematic work, whatever the sources fail to record about it.
What is documented, and what is not
Documented: the 1933 championship, the winning word torsion, her age of 12, Twinsburg in Ohio, the runner-up George Meltzer's miss on propitiatory, her teaching career at Solon Middle School until 1983, and her death on 31 July 2003.
Not documented in the sources used here: her family, the prize money, the number of rounds, the schools she taught at before Solon, and how she prepared for the bee.
| Persona | Paese | Traguardo | Età / Dato |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alma Roach | Stati Uniti | Campionessa del National Spelling Bee 1933 | 12 anni |
| Arvind Mahankali | Stati Uniti | Ha vinto lo Scripps National Spelling Bee 2013 a 13 anni | 13 anni |
| Kerry Close | Stati Uniti | Ha vinto lo Scripps National Spelling Bee 2006 a 13 anni | 13 anni |
| Hugh Tosteson García | Porto Rico (Stati Uniti) | Campione del National Spelling Bee 1975 | 14 anni |
| Roy Seligman | Bahamas | Primo concorrente dalle Bahamas a raggiungere lo Scripps National Spelling Bee… | — |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- She won the 1933 National Spelling Bee on torsion at 12
- Runner-up George Meltzer missed propitiatory
- She taught at Solon Middle School until 1983 and died on 31 July 2003
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- The prize money and the number of rounds
- Her family and the schools she taught at before Solon
- How she prepared for the competition
Questions people ask about Alma Roach
What word did Alma Roach win on?
Torsion, at the 1933 National Spelling Bee.
How old was she?
She was 12 when she won in May 1933; her birth year is recorded as 1921.
Where was she from?
Twinsburg, Ohio. Contemporary coverage described her as an Akron girl, after the region of the sponsoring newspaper.
What did she do afterwards?
She taught, ending her career at Solon Middle School in 1983.
Who was the runner-up?
George Meltzer, who missed the word propitiatory.
When did she die?
On 31 July 2003. Her obituary was published under her married name, Alma R. (Roach) Mercer.
Is Alma Roach on Wikipedia?
Her name appears in listings of National Spelling Bee champions. No biography of her is among the sources used here.
How much prize money did she win?
The sources used here do not state the amount, and no figure is attributed to her on this page.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Alma’s story?
Which word won Alma Roach the 1933 title?
What did she do for a career?
How old was she when she won?
Sources
- Paper's National Spelling Bee Won By Akron Girl, 12 — Schenectady Gazette, 1933-05-30
- Alma R. (Roach) Mercer — Akron Beacon Journal (obituary), 2003-08-02
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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