Pro Football Hall of Fame Inductee and Super Bowl MVP Former American Football Running Back for the New York Jets and Washington Redskins
John Riggins was born in Seneca, Kansas, on August 4, 1949. He attended Centralia High School in Centralia, Kansas where he was a three-sport athlete, earning All-American recognition in football, all-state honors in basketball, and was a two-time winner of the state 100-yard dash Class B title.
After high school, Riggins attended and played football at the University of Kansas for the Jayhawks. While there, he was honored as an All-American and two-time All-Big Eight Conference athlete and led the Jayhawks to the 1968 Big Eight Conference and 1969 Orange Bowl. He concluded his college football career in 1970 with 2,659 rushing yards, breaking Gale Sayer’s career rushing record for the University. Riggins graduated with a degree in journalism the following year.
In the first round of the 1971 NFL draft Riggins was recruited by the New York Jets. He went on to become the first rookie to lead the team in both rushing and receiving, and in 1975 he became the first player in franchise history to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a single season. After four years with the Jets, he was the fourth leading rusher in team history. He received the Jets’ MVP title in both 1972 and 1975 and concluded his last season with the team at the 1975 Pro Bowl.
John Riggins is best known for his days as a running back for the Washington Redskins. In 1976, he signed as a free agent and was recognized as a major part of the team’s offense. Despite sitting out the 1980 season, Riggins returned to the Redskins with great success, setting a rushing record of 444 yards in three playoff games, which helped the team make it to Super Bowl XVII. During the game, he set a Super Bowl record by rushing for 166 yards, including the game-winning 43-yard touchdown. The Redskins ultimately defeated the Miami Dolphins 27-17, and Riggins was named MVP of the game.
The following season Riggins set yet another NFL record by scoring in 13 consecutive games and was second on the NFL list of top scorers with 144 points. Despite losing to the Los Angeles Raiders at Super Bowl XVIII, Riggins was named All-Pro in 1983 for the first time in his career. After two more seasons with the Washington Redskins, Riggins retired from professional football in 1985 with 11,352 career rushing yards and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1992.
He has since started a career in acting and works as a sports commentator on television and radio.
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Download Speech Topics: John Riggins Speech Topics
Do Your Job. That is the essence of team work. Sometimes you can't count on the other guy, but you always want to make sure they can count on you. That's your reputation. That's you on the line every day.
Don’t Give Yourself Permission to Fail. The most successful guys on a football field are those that have the highest threshold for pain. The most successful guys in the business world are those that have the highest tolerance for frustration.
Courage is at the root of any human achievement because it breeds confidence. It is what helps you stay on course when you're trying to do your job and not giving yourself permission to fail.
Seize Your Moment. I said to Joe Gibbs: "Give me the football. I'm ready to play. Don't take me out." It was my time, and I seized it.
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“Firefighters by their very nature are skeptical about people and the message that they share. However, John lit up the score board and our folks are still talking about his personal message about professionalism, self-motivation and personal accountability. I would recommend John Riggins’ message to all groups that are interested in performing at their peak regardless of their type of business.” Dennis L. Rubin, Fire Chief, DC FIRE & EMS
“John was invited to be the keynote speaker for our Leadership Conference. I knew he had hit it out of the park when our President referred to John’s three core messages throughout the week in our event meetings: Do your job; Don’t give yourself permission to fail; Have courage. John’s personal sense of truth and authenticity made his message that much more accessible to anyone who aspires to excel at their highest level.” Doug Wagoner, Senior Vice President, BU General Manager, Homeland and Civilian Solutions, SAIC
“Thank you for giving our team the opportunity to hear John speak. It was a phenomenal way for us to start our new sales year. His motivational words and real life examples were a great approach. I find myself using a number of his quotes daily. My favorite is ‘do your job.’“ Todd Heavner, Regional Vice President, Enterprise Rental Car
“John did a tremendous job of delivering an inspired message with real life examples on leadership that the team was able to absorb and translate into their daily sales cadence.” Greg Feldman, Merlin International
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