Graded 1972 Topps John Riggins #13 Rookie RC Football Card PSA 6 EX-MT

🏈 Graded 1972 Topps John Riggins #13 Rookie RC Football Card — PSA 6 EX-MT — 'The Diesel' — Super Bowl XVII MVP — Seneca, Kansas — Washington Redskins — Hall of Fame 1992

🏈 In the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XVII, with the Washington Redskins trailing the Miami Dolphins and the entire season concentrated into a single decision on fourth-and-one, John Riggins took the handoff and ran 43 yards for the touchdown that turned the game and delivered Washington its first Super Bowl championship. 'The Diesel' — a 230-pound fullback running back who played with a combination of power, intelligence, and sheer physical will that made him one of the most difficult ball carriers in the history of the position — earned the Super Bowl MVP award for that performance and placed his name permanently in the story of what the Washington franchise is. This is the 1972 Topps John Riggins #13 Rookie RC football card — the very first Topps card produced for one of the most powerful running backs in the history of the NFL — graded PSA 6 EX-MT by Professional Sports Authenticator, a certified authentic vintage rookie card from a player who carried the ball with the relentless force that gave him his nickname and the Hall of Fame career that followed. Condition: NOS.

🌾 Seneca, Kansas — Small Town, Massive Impact

🌾 John Riggins was born on August 4, 1949, in Seneca — a small city in Nemaha County in the northeastern corner of Kansas, county seat and agricultural community in the tallgrass prairie country that stretches across the eastern half of the state. From Seneca, Riggins developed into a Kansas Jayhawks football player at the University of Kansas — a Big Eight program that gave him the competitive stage his physical tools demanded — before the New York Jets selected him with the 6th overall pick in the 1971 NFL Draft, sending a Kansas kid to the most competitive media market in professional football. Condition: NOS.

🏙️ New York Jets — The First Chapter for The Diesel

🏙️ John Riggins spent his first five NFL seasons with the New York Jets — a franchise in transition through much of the early 1970s after the Joe Namath-led Super Bowl III championship — developing the physical running style and the back-to-the-wall mentality that would eventually make him the most effective short-yardage weapon in the NFC. His time in New York established his professional credibility and his reputation for running directly at defenses with the kind of power that required multiple defenders to bring down consistently. Condition: NOS.

⭐ Washington Redskins — The Super Bowl Chapter

⭐ John Riggins' signature contribution to professional football came with the Washington Redskins, where he spent the bulk of his career and produced the rushing seasons that ultimately placed him in the Hall of Fame. The strike-shortened 1982 season saw Riggins rush for 610 yards across four playoff games — an NFL single-postseason record that still stands — including a then-Super Bowl record 166 yards on 38 carries in Washington's 27-17 win over Miami, capped by the iconic 43-yard fourth-and-one touchdown run. His four consecutive 100-yard playoff games in that stretch was itself an NFL postseason record. Condition: NOS.

📚 1972 Topps — The Vintage Rookie Card Context

📚 The 1972 Topps football set was produced at the peak of the early-1970s football card era — a period when Topps held a near-monopoly on the professional football card market and when the cards produced in that era became the canonical rookie cards for the players who would define the decade of football that followed. More than fifty years have passed since this card was produced, and surviving copies in gradable condition represent genuine artifacts of the sport's first great era of expansion and national television coverage. PSA 6 EX-MT is a respectable grade for a card of this age — the card displays cleanly and has survived the decades in condition that confirms its authenticity and physical integrity. Condition: NOS.

🏈🏆 John Riggins. Seneca, Kansas. Kansas Jayhawks. New York Jets, 1971-1975. Washington Redskins, 1976-1985. The Diesel. Super Bowl XVII MVP (1983). NFL single-postseason rushing record, 610 yards (1982). Hall of Fame, 1992. 1972 Topps #13 Rookie RC. PSA 6 EX-MT. Condition: NOS.