Mike Riggs Obituary

The voice of sports announcer Mike Riggs has been silenced. Mr. Riggs died suddenly Monday, Nov. 8, 2010, at his home in Durango. He was 50. No foul play is suspected.

Mr. Riggs came to Durango five years ago to join Four Corners Broadcasting. He was the morning disc jockey on KRSJ-FM (100.5) and covered sports on sister stations KIQX-FM (101.3) and KIUP-AM (930).

"He was the kind of guy who when he saw something that needed to be done, he'd just do it," Ward Holmes, the general manager of Four Corners Broadcasting, said. "He never said anything, and we're just now realizing all he did. He'll be a tough act to follow."

Mr. Riggs had been the radio play-by-play announcer for Fort Lewis College Skyhawk men's and women's basketball in 2009-2010 and for football games this fall. He also served as the stadium announcer for FLC men's and women's soccer and volleyball games for the last two years.

"He was a friend to all of us and a member of our Skyhawk athletic family," FLC athletics director Kelly Higgins said in a news release. "He was a talented announcer and a dedicated member of our game-day staff. Mike had an uncanny ability as a stadium announcer to energize our fans through his announcing and music selections during timeouts. He found a way to connect with spectators and on-air listeners that only a select few announcers can do."

Mr. Riggs began his sports broadcasting career in 1978 in his hometown of Scottsboro, Ala., where he announced football games for his old high school. After seven years broadcasting high school sports in Alabama, he became the first play-by-play football announcer at Tennessee Wesleyan in Athens, Tenn.

Several years later, he moved to Georgia and began a long stint of covering more high school and college games. While in Georgia, Mr. Riggs also reported from venues across the Atlantic Coast and Southeast conferences, NASCAR races and his favorite race, the Indianapolis 500.

Over the next 12 years, he covered three World Series, two Super Bowls and the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. Mr. Riggs also interviewed numerous participants in the sports, entertainment and political arenas.

Mr. Riggs was born to Billy Wayne and Linda Riggs on Dec. 31, 1959. His brother Pat Riggs said he was a talented high school football player and wrestler in Alabama but turned down collegiate scholarship offers to focus on his new career in radio.

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