Quick look: No. 1 draft pick, 1971 ... Career record: 11,352 yards, 104 TDs rushing; 2,090 yards receiving; 13,435 combined net yards, 116 TDs ... Most Valuable Player with 166 rushing yards, 43-yard winning touchdown, Super Bowl XVII ... Had five 1,000-yard rushing seasons ... Played in 1976 Pro Bowl ... All-NFL, 1983 ... Voluntarily sat out 1980 season ... Born August 4, 1949, in Seneca, Kansas.

Full bio: To understand what kind of backfield player John Riggins was at KU, all you have to do is look at his nickname, "The Diesel."

Also known as Riggo, he smashed through lines like an unrelenting piledriver force. And he piled up the yardage, leading KU in rushing for three seasons. He finished with 2,659 yards, which ranks him in fifth place on KU's all-time rushing chart and 14th for total yards.

Riggins also is No. 2 on the rushing chart for most touchdowns in a season, pounding in 14 in 1970.

That season he also rushed for 1,131 yards, which put him fourth on KU's season rushing yardage.

He was also won Big Eight all-conference honors twice.

But "The Diesel" turned it up a notch when he reached the pros.

Riggins, the first pick of the New York Jets and the sixth player selected in the 1971 NFL Draft, played 175 games in 14 seasons with the Jets and Washington Redskins.

He played in New York for five years but signed with the Redskins in 1976 as a free agent. His nine-year tenure with the Redskins was interrupted in 1980, when he voluntarily sat out the season.

The 6-2, 230-pound Riggins was not a spectacular running back but he was a classic workhorse ball carrier who specialized in the tough yardage in the big games. He carried 2,916 times for 11,352 yards and 104 touchdowns during his career. He also caught 250 passes for 2,090 yards and 12 touchdowns. His 13,435 combined net yards are among the best ever, as is his 116 touchdowns by rushing and receiving.

Riggins played in the 1982 and 1983 NFC championship games and Super Bowls XVII and XVIII and made the most of his comparatively few postseason appearances. He was the Most Valuable Player in Super Bowl XVII with a then-record 38 carries for 166 yards. He capped off his big day with a 43-yard touchdown run that clinched Washington's 27-17 victory over Miami.

Riggins rushed over 1,000 yards five times in his career and over 100 yards in 35 games, including a then-record six in post-season. He rushed 251 times for 996 yards and 12 touchdowns in nine post-season contests. Riggins followed his Super Bowl XVII success with a sensational season in 1983 when he rushed for a career-high 1,347 yards and a then-record 24 touchdowns. Following that season he was named All-Pro for the first time in his illustrious career.

Riggins was also inducted into the Ring of Honor at Washington's RFK Stadium. In 1992, he was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame the first year he was eligible. In 1999, he was named to the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame.

Additional stats: Passing: 0 of 2.