Dr. John D. Riggs

Dr. John Riggs

The son of a blacksmith, John Riggs was a three-sport athlete at Mesa High School, Arizona State Teachers College (now ASU) and the University of Arizona.  Upon graduation, he became a teacher-coach at Mesa High, Gila Junior College (now Eastern Arizona) and Phoenix College, adding the position of Athletic Director at the latter two institutions.  In 1963, he was appointed Executive Dean of the newly-founded Mesa Extension of Phoenix College.  Two years later, Dr. Riggs was named President of Mesa Community College, a position he held for the next nine years.

Athletic competition at the college got underway in 1966, and the teams were known as the HoKams in honor of the ancient Indian tribe that lived in the Salt River Valley.  Our present campus at Southern and Dobson came into being in the late '60s, and we soon had teams competing in nine sports, a number of which won national championships.  Ground was broken for the gymnasium and stadium in late 1967, and these facilities were dedicated in 1969.  The stadium was named in honor of Dr. Riggs at the time of his retirement in 1974.

It was John Riggs’ influence that defined the culture of Mesa Community College as being very student-centered.  He attended just about every event that occurred on campus and often traveled on the bus with the football team for away games.  Deeply involved in the community and his church, he served as Commissioner of Officials for the Arizona Interscholastic Association and was inducted into the Arizona Basketball Hall of Fame.  At the time of his retirement, an editorial in The Mesa Legend wrote, "Dr. Riggs is the man who made MCC what it is today."