But it was smaller than the adult female I found that same day. It was still a fairly large spider, though, and I don't know if the males are significantly smaller than the females. Not counting legs, it was probably about 1cm long, if that helps. With the legs, it probably would have covered about 2/3 of a quarter. I found 3 very similar ones that day. I photographed 2 of them but only included this one because I had the close up of the face (although, I took several shots and couldn't get a good close up). If you wanted the photos of the other one, I could post them.

Yes, the male is much smaller then the female.
Your is probably a male Northern Black Widow - (Latrodectus variolus).
Look at this photo for comparison: http://bugguide.net/node/view/99776/bgimage

I have personally seen some rather sizeable males. Without association with a female, I think species ID is not going to be conclusive. Too much individual variation to go by color and pattern alone, and you can't magnify the pedipalps through an image:-) Let's see what Jeff Hollenbeck has to say, though.

All the males that I have seen here in southern TN of black widows are much smaller then the females. That is where I am basing that info on. (Southern Black Widows, as far as I know...)

In the 7 years I lived in TN all the widows I came across were either huge females? Or tiny males....But they were the 'typical' black widow most people are able to identify with.
Just recently I had the experience to go on a 'spider hunt' at night in a park in Missouri....we came across a whole 'nest' of young widows with the mother Northern standing watch. Only 1 small male was further around the building.
Such gorgeous arachnids....and fascinating to observe!