Happy birthday to the namesake of Riggo’s Rag: John Riggins

Greatness got a little older today, but no less great.

Hopefully this won’t make you feel old, but John Riggins, Riggo himself, is now 68 years old. It’s been 35 years since he helped the Redskins win the Super Bowl following the strike-shortened 1982 season.

Maybe this will make you feel better about being old. The following year, in 1983, Riggins broke the record for rushing touchdowns in a season with 24. The record has since been broken, but Riggins was 34 years old at the time (106 in football years). That’s no small feat, and it was enough to vault Riggins into the Hall of Fame.

That didn’t work either, huh? No, that had to work. After all, to see Riggins in his prime, in person, was a feat in its own right. Riggo was a force to be reckoned with, and in the latter years of his career, he shined the brightest. If Tom Brady played running back, Riggo is what you’d get. In a league where its impressive to see a running back last ten years, Riggins bested the beat of the pads for 14 years, amassing 11,352 yards and 104 touchdowns. The former number falls in at 19th all-time. The latter is good for sixth.

Riggins is not just the greatest Redskins running back of all time. He’s one of the greatest running backs of all time. Period. He’s a reminder of the best times in Washington. The time when the team was a dynasty. Riggins was a big part of that. And even today, he remains a staple of Redskins’ history.

It’s days like these where you reflect on this kind of greatness. After all, Riggo is our namesake, here at Riggo’s Rag. Riggo was the kind of player who made stories on the field with his play. Today, us writers at Riggo’s Rag pay homage to those stories with our own.

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I’m getting carried away again. Don’t feel bad about being old. It just means you’re that much closer to greatness. Happy birthday to John Riggins! Here’s to many more birthdays to come.