Dr. John D. Riggs, father of Mesa athletics
This is the first in a series of stories that will document Mesa CC athletics. The series is expected to run on an approximately bi-weekly basis.
It can be a little difficult to pin down the actual beginning of intercollegiate athletics at Mesa Community College. There apparently were some individual track and field events, but in those early days record-keeping was not a priority.
There can be little doubt, however that it was Dr. John D. Riggs who got things rolling.
All anyone needs to do is to drive by the stadium that sits on the far eastern edge of campus and see Riggs name prominently affixed. It was a proper tribute to the man who became the first president of what was known as Mesa Extension of Phoenix College.
A Mesa H.S. graduate, Riggs became Executive Dean of the fledgling school in 1963 and two years later was named president of Mesa Community College, a position he held for nine years.
His mark is evident in many ways across the campus, but the focus of this story is athletics.
An athlete himself, he became a teacher/coach at Mesa H.S., Gila College (now Eastern Arizona College) and Phoenix College. Riggs cared so deeply about athletics that he made it a point to attend as many events on campus as possible and even travelled on the football team bus occasionally to away games.
Athletic competition commenced at MCC in 1966 with teams known as the HoKams, honoring the ancient Indian tribe that first developed the Salt River Valley.
Records indicate that men's basketball, track and field, and baseball began competition in 1965-66, although the football stadium and gym were not dedicated until 1969.
Men's tennis joined the fold in 1966-67 and football in 1967. The first women's spots added appear to have been volleyball in 1973 and tennis in 1975.
These are according to the records currently available. Anyone with further information is asked to contact Wayne Block at wayne.block@mesacc.edu.
What there can be no doubt about, however, is that the outstanding athletic program that exists today can all be traced back to the efforts of Dr. John D. Riggs.
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