Kansas Football Icon John Riggins to Have No. 44 Jersey Retired by Washington Commanders

Kansas football legend and NFL Hall of Famer John Riggins is having his No. 44 jersey retired by the Washington Commanders.

Photo via @KU_Football on X

One former Kansas football player will soon get the honor of a lifetime as the Washington Commanders announced that they will be retiring the No. 44 jersey of John Riggins (nicknamed “Riggo” and “The Diesel”) later this fall.

Riggins – a member of the Kansas football Ring of Honor (2007), Kansas Athletics Hall of Fame (1984), and Kansas Sports Hall of Fame (1999) – will see his No. 44 retired during the Commanders’ game against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, Nov. 8. He will become just the seventh player in Washington history to receive that honor, along with Sammy Baugh, Bobby Mitchell, Sean Taylor, Sonny Jurgensen, Darrell Green, and Art Monk.

While Riggins had an incredible career in the NFL, he also had an amazing start to his football career at the University of Kansas.

During his three seasons as a fullback in Lawrence (1968-70), the Centralia, Kansas, native scored a total of 21 touchdowns and rushed for 2,659 yards (5.1 average per carry) – breaking the previous school record set by fellow KU football legend Gale Sayers.

Riggins’ senior year in 1970 remains one of the best individual seasons by a KU rusher in school history. That season, he led the Big Eight Conference in both rushing attempts (209) and rushing yards (1,131). His 1,131 yards on the ground that year and his 14 touchdowns from scrimmage both remain top 10 single-season marks in the Kansas football record books.

Riggins earned First Team All-Big Eight honors following that historic season – his third All-Big Eight recognition after earning First Team honors as a sophomore in 1968 and Second Team honors in 1969.

Watch the latest Pay Heed Podcast episode breaking down the top 2026 Big 12 Media Day storylines for KU football.

The success of the 1970 season led Riggins to being a first-round draft pick in the 1971 NFL Draft where the New York Jets selected him with the No. 6 overall pick. He spent five seasons in New York before joining the (previously named) Washington Redskins ahead of the 1976 season.

That is when Riggins’ professional career really took off as he guided Washington to back-to-back Super Bowl appearances in 1983 (Super Bowl XVII) and 1984 (Super Bowl XVIII) – leading the league in rushing each year. He led the franchise to its first Super Bowl in Super Bowl XVII behind his MVP performance of 166 yards rushing on 38 carries, which included his famous 43-yard touchdown run on fourth down in the fourth quarter to give Washington the lead.

What’s your all-time favorite Super Bowl play? Over 40 years later, I still get fired up every single time John Riggins breaks into the clear.

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— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) February 8, 2026

Riggins would finish his nine-year Washington career with 7,472 yards rushing on 1,988 attempts and 79 rushing touchdowns – all of which remain franchise records. He also became just the second player in NFL history to rush for 100 touchdowns behind Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown.

His accomplishments earned him a spot in Washington’s Ring of Fame alongside quarterback Joe Theismann in 1990 when Riggins famously rushed onto the field in full uniform to “hear the roar of the crowd one more time.” Riggins was later inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1992 during his first year of eligibility.