Background and career
Robert John Riggins (born August 4, 1949), nicknamed "Riggo" and "Diesel", is an American former professional football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Jets and Washington Redskins. He played college football for the Kansas Jayhawks. Riggins was known for his "bell cow" running style and productivity well into the later years of his career. In 1983, Riggins rushed for a then-NFL record of 24 touchdowns and led the league in rushing touchdowns the following season. Although he earned only one Pro Bowl appearance in his career, Riggins had his greatest success in the postseason and was named MVP of Super Bowl XVII where he scored one touchdown and rushed for 166 yards in the win for the Redskins. Riggins was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1992.
Riggins was born in Seneca, Kansas, and is of Irish, English, and Czech ancestry, 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 twice winning 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. In October 2012, John with his brothers Frank (Junior) and Bill Riggins were on hand to dedicate the Centralia High School football field renaming it Riggins Field in honoring their parents, Franklin Eugene and Mildred Riggins.
Riggins attended the University of Kansas and played 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 Penn State, 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. Riggins is now ranked fifth for Kansas' all-time rushing leaders and 14th for total yards. While at Kansas, Riggins majored in journalism.
Riggins was the first running back selected in the 1971 NFL draft, at sixth in the first round, by the New York Jets. 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 duo 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 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.
In 1976, Riggins signed as a free agent with the Washington Redskins, who offered him a five-year, $1.5 million contract, compared to the $63,000 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, Riggins gained more than 1,000 yards each of the next two seasons and was a major part of the Redskins' offense.
During training camp in July 1980, Riggins requested to renegotiate his $300,000-per-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. Riggins sat out the 1980 season and did not rejoin the Redskins until 1981, when new Washington head coach Joe Gibbs traveled to Kansas to make a peace offering.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
