John Riggins

Robert John Riggins, nicknamed "The Diesel", (born August 4, 1949 in Seneca, Kansas) is a former American football running back in the National Football League for the New York Jets and Washington Redskins. Riggins was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1992.

Riggins was born in Seneca, Kansas and attended Centralia High School in Centralia, Kansas. While there, he was a three-sport athlete, earning high school All-American recognition in football, all-state honors in basketball and won twice the Class B 100-yard dash state title.

Riggins' high school is now located on John Riggins Avenue, which runs through a main part of Centralia.

College Career

Riggins attended and played college football at the University of Kansas for the Jayhawks, where he was an All-American and two-time All-Big Eight Conference first-team selection. Riggins led the Jayhawks to a Big Eight Conference championship win in 1968. The team then went to the 1969 Orange Bowl, which they lost to Pennsylvania State University, 15-14.

During his senior season in 1970, Riggins rushed for 1,131 yards and scored a then school-record 14 touchdowns. He finished his career with 2,659 rushing yards, which broke Gale Sayers's career rushing record for the school (now ranked fifth for Kansas' all-time rushing leaders and 14th for total yards). While at Kansas, Riggins majored in journalism.


NFL

New York Jets (1971 - 1975)

Riggins was drafted in the first round of the 1971 NFL Draft by the New York Jets and as a rookie he became the first Jet to lead the team in both rushing and receiving. On October 15, 1972, the Jets set a team-record of 333 rushing yards against the New England Patriots , beating them 41-13. Riggins, who had 168 yards, and Emerson Boozer, who had 150 yards, became the only running back tandem in franchise history who both rushed for 150 yards in a game. Although he missed the final two games in 1972 because of knee surgery, Riggins rushed for 944 yards, four yards less than Matt Snell's franchise record.

Riggins was among the top ten rushers in the American Football Conference in 1974 despite missing four games with a shoulder injury. After only four years with the Jets, he was already the fourth leading rusher in team history with 2,875 yards. In 1975, Riggins became the first player in franchise history to rush for 1,000 or more yards in a season. On December 21, 1975, he ran for 121 yards against the Dallas Cowboys, which was his fifth consecutive 100 yard game and gave him 1,005 for the season. In what turned out to be his last season with the Jets, Riggins made his only appearance in the Pro Bowl.

Riggins was named the Jets' MVP (now known as the Martin Award) in 1972 and 1975.


Washington Redskins (1976 - 1979)

In 1976, Riggins signed as a free agent with the Washington Redskins, who offered him a four-year, $1.5 million contract, compared to the $75,000 he earned in his final year with the Jets. He was used mostly in short-yardage situations in his first season with Washington and missed much of the 1977 season with a knee injury. However, he gained more than 1,000 yards each of the next two seasons and was a major part of the Redskins' offense.


Contract Dispute (1980)

During training camp in July 1980, Riggins requested to renegotiate his $300,000-a-year contract and the Redskins refused. He then chose to leave camp and the Redskins placed him on the left camp-retired list, a move that made him ineligible to play for any other team in the league. He sat out the 1980 season and didn't rejoin the Redskins until 1981, when new Washington head coach Joe Gibbs traveled to Kansas to make a peace offering.


Washington Redskins (1981 - 1985)

Upon Riggins' return in 1981, he managed just 714 rushing yards but scored 13 touchdowns.

During the strike-shortened 1982 season, Riggins gained 553 yards. He was much more successful during the playoffs, during which he gained 444 yards in victories over the Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings (where he had a franchise playoff record 185 yards), and Dallas Cowboys, and helped the Redskins reach Super Bowl XVII. Riggins rushed for a then-Super Bowl record 166 yards on 38 carries and the Redskins then beat the Miami Dolphins 27-17. He was then named Super Bowl MVP.

A play that was designed for gaining short yardage called "70 chip" turned out to be the key play of the game. With 10 minutes remaining, Riggins took a handoff on 4th-and-inches, broke an attempted tackle by Dolphin cornerback Don McNeal and ran for a 43 yard touchdown. The Super Bowl win was the Redskins' first championship victory since 1942. Riggins' total of 610 yards amounted to 43 percent of Washington's offense in the four playoff games. His four consecutive playoff games with over 100 yards was an NFL postseason record. On December 6, 2007, Riggins' run was voted by fans as the Redskins' Greatest Moment.

In 1983, Riggins rushed for 1,347 yards, scored a then-NFL record 24 touchdowns, won the Bert Bell Award, and was named All-Pro for the first time in his career. Riggins went on to have another outstanding postseason, rushing for 242 yards and two touchdowns in their two playoff games, extending his NFL record of postseason games with at least 100 rushing yards to six. He then rushed for 64 yards and a touchdown in the Redskins' 38-9 Super Bowl XVIII loss against the Los Angeles Raiders.

Two other career milestones happened in 1983 for Riggins. On November 20, 1983, he set an NFL record by scoring in his 12th consecutive game during a 42-20 win over the Los Angeles Rams. His record would end at 13 consecutive games the following week. Then on December 17, 1983, Mark Moseley set an NFL kicking record by scoring 161 points in a season, which also made him the league leader in scoring that season. Riggins, who scored 144 points, was second on the season scoring list. This was the first time since 1951 that the top two scorers in a season played on the same team.

Riggins gained 1,239 in 1984, despite a bad back. In 1985, he rushed for more than 100 yards in three of the first four games before being replaced by George Rogers. He retired after that season.

Riggins played 175 games in 14 seasons, had 13,442 total yards (11,352 rushing and 2,090 receiving) and 116 total touchdowns (104 rushing and 12 receiving). Riggins rushed over 1,000 yards five times in his career and over 100 yards in 35 games, including a then-record six in post-season. He rushed 251 times for 996 yards and 12 touchdowns in nine post-season contests. He was the second player ever to rush for over 100 touchdowns in NFL history, and the first to do it since Jim Brown reached the milestone in 1965.

John Riggins #44
Running Back

On October 21, 1990, Riggins and Joe Theismann were inducted into the Redskins' Ring of Fame. As Riggins' named was called, he ran onto the field in full Redskins uniform, including pads, and the crowd at RFK Stadium cheered. Riggins later explained that he "just had to hear [the roar of the crowd] one more time".

In 1992 he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

On October 13, 2007, Riggins was inducted into the University of Kansas' Ring of Honor at Memorial Stadium.

Riggins has been married twice and has five children. He now resides in Cabin John, Maryland near the Potomac River.