As part of the occupation force after the Armistice, Higgins played right end for the 89th Division squad that won the AEF football championship in March 1919.

In a 20–0 victory over Pittsburgh that season, Higgins caught a pass from Walter Hess and turned it into a thrilling 92-yard touchdown and was immortalized in Knute Rockne's "Great Football Plays."

He led the Nittany Lions to only the second unbeaten season in the school's history, culminating in a tie versus Southern Methodist University in the 1948 Cotton Bowl Classic.

Higgins was a brother of Margaret Sanger, famed campaigner for birth control, family planning and social reform.

Higgins' daughter Virginia ("Ginger") married All-American guard and fellow College Football Hall of Fame inductee Steve Suhey.