Riggs was president of Clemson during one of its most challenging times, during World War I, when enrollment dropped due to students joining the military or going home to help on family farms.

He was also president of his class, director of the glee club, and a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity while at Auburn.

Riggs was the second president of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association, taking over for William Lofland Dudley in 1912.

Riggs Hall, which is the home of Clemson's College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences, is named in his honor.

This biographical article relating to a college football coach first appointed in the 1890s is a stub.