In Remembrance of Bill Riggins
Below are comments and remembrances that were e-mailed to me.
If you have anything you would like to add please e-mail me at phillb@ns.net.
Godspeed Bill
From Phill Brown phillb@ns.net
Bill Riggins died on November 18th at Alta Bates Hospital in Berekely of complications from cancer. As you will read below he was given six month to live this past spring. He spent the last months of his life doing what he loved, Flagging. During the last year Bill seemed to be hanging around the track after the races were over, longer and longer. We now know why. I just wish he would have let us really say goodbye.
Bill was very opinionated about his job at the track. He had a real passion for flagging. He gave 110% for what he believed was the right way to do things. I remember Bill coming up to me after a multi-bike crash in turn 4 and beating himself up about if he could have gotten the flag out sooner if had turned a few more degrees to the left. Bill was a very valuable member of our crew and will be missed greatly.
Below is an e-mail sent to Tom Bright and myself from Bill's brother John. Any remembrances can be sent or e-mailed to him at the addresses at the end. If you will send a copy to me I will post it on the AFM Worker Web site for all to view.
Godspeed Bill, I know you'll be watching our backs. Phill Brown
From John Riggins
Bill died on November 18 at Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley. His death was listed as Cardiac arrest due to Metastic Renal Cancer. There is a bit of a long story behind Bill's illness: Bill had a mole or growth on his forehead, which he let his hair grow to cover. He had first noticed the growth over 10 years ago but never did anything about it (he ignored it). Last spring he went to a doctor about some other complaint (minor). The doctor noticed the mole and did a biopsy-- it was malignant. The hospital removed the cancer last spring but also did some MRI's and bone scans and found multiple internal tumors (spine, hip, adrenal gland, kidney, lung and I believe several others). In the spring, the doctors advised Bill that he only had about 6 months to live.
They gave Bill prescriptions (many which he did not fill -- I found many recent unfilled prescription slips among Bill's effects, as well as several full prescription bottles in which almost no tablets had been used) and they urged Bill to begin chemotherapy (Bill declined). They also insisted Bill reduce his activities and conserve his strength (they particularly recommended that he no longer drive to races and work over weekends).
As you may know, throughout this past summer, Bill nevertheless continued to work corners at courses.
Although Bill was homeless (he lived in his car), he corresponded with me regularly by e-mail through computers at a job consortium in Berkley.
Bill loved the track and all racing events. His e-mails were full of descriptions of races. On several occasions he stated that his happiest moments were when he was working a corner. Even during this last summer for him, despite mentioning how easily tired he became and how even climbing stairs had become a chore for him, he frequently mentioned how much better he felt after a weekend at the course - how the fresh air and stimulus of the events made him forget his troubles and "recharge his batteries". Bill really seemed to live for the weekend and any event that he could work.
Bill was my older brother (I am four years younger). Bill was a very unique "character" and his approach to life and philosophy was often very hard for us (me, my younger sister and my parents) to understand. Although I could have not led my life the way Bill did his, I can (and could) see influences on Bill that probably molded him.
In the late 50's and early 60's our family lived in a small community in western Kansas -- having moved there from California (my Dad worked for an oil tool company and at that time was responsible for the development of several oildrilling operations). In Liberal, Kansas as a teen, Bill was a star athlete. He was a split end on the high school football team, scored many touchdowns and received much verbal and newspaper praise. He was also a baseball pitcher of special note. He pitched multiple no-hitters, was feared for his hard fast ball and was on local, regional and state all-star teams (everyone said he had a "can't miss" chance at major-league baseball). Between his junior and senior year, my father was transferred to a job in New York City. Bill had to leave behind all his friends, his sterling reputation and enroll in a completely new school for his senior year.
The move was a great trauma for Bill. We didn't move until right before the beginning of the school year. The new school had already solidified its football team and the coach wouldn't even let Bill join the team (he was "too late").And, the new school didn't even have a baseball team! Bill was pretty torn-up by this drastic change. He finished his senior year at this school and then the very next summer we moved again.
I was younger and adapted a little bit more quickly (although I too remember the pain of leaving all my friends behind and having to start all over again in a new location). The second move was also hard on me but I was in a new school and still had three more years to go -- Bill was now out of school, in a strange town and, since he had no school to attend, had no easy way to meet new friends.
I see this as one of major changes that affected Bill (I always wondered how differently Bill might have developed if we had stayed in the same town until he had graduated). Bill, at this time, got very involved in Jack Keruoac's novel "On the Road" and I think this was the second factor that contributed to Bill's eventual philosophy of life. Bill was extremely attracted to Keruoac's concepts of independence, freedom, self-sufficiency and the author's dislike of all things traditional, governmental, etc. From this point on, Bill always did things "Bill's" way and not necessarily the way traditional society would expect. Bill did not like to "punch a clock" yet he was capable of hard work and self-discipline. Bill didn't care much about "creature comforts" (he was perfectly happy living in his car for the last 2years or so).
Bill and I were fairly close as kids but we went in different directions from here on out: Bill joined the Army and was assigned to Germany. I finished high school and just as I was going off to college, he returned but now we were indifferent states. I married and settled down in Tennessee, Bill went off to college in California and settled down in Berkley. Due to the distances and my growing family, Bill and I only saw each other occasionally. Thankfully, over the last 10 years I had several hospital projects in the Bay Area and was able to visit with Bill several times (and racing was always his number one topic). Over the last 2 years we started corresponding by e-mail and I regularly received anywhere from 4 to 8 messages weekly from Bill (many with long descriptions of the race he had just worked, etc.).
Bill was very proud of his role as a corner worker and I know he would want to contribute anytime that he thought it was important.
From: Tom Bright <TBright@ns.net>
Your brother Bill was one of my personal favorites. He was a major contributor to the course worker manual we put together in the late 1970s. After 20 years, it's still being copied and imitated coast to coast by other clubs. It outlines what is important to keep in mind while waiting out on a turn for the inevitable.
I had been an AMA professional, a nationally ranked Top Ten rider in 1973, but as it was a rich man's hobby, I was pretty well broke by summer of 1974. Our Northern California club president told me to get the crash crew organized, as till then it had been loose at best, with little equipment and indifferent training. From the the morning of our first race meeting, Bill stepped right up with suggestion after suggestion: what our priorities are (1st, protect ourselves, 2nd, protect oncoming traffic, 3rd, protect downed riders — just the opposite of my sappy but sincere outlook); how and where to stand; what to look for before, during, and after an incident; what to do and not do; how best to delegate among the available squad at each turn station.
Bill was about the most intense guy we ever worked with. Not very changeable: he was a known quantity, and a high quality quantity at that. Bill was refreshingly able to distill the essence of a crash situation in the midst of the noise and confusion and bark out effective orders while in full gallop, flag in one hand, fire bottle in the other.
Would he hold a grudge or bottle up some observation, whether at a crash scene or, later, at a break? No way: he spoke directly to the matters he thought important, as if people's lives were at stake. Which, as he ever reminded us, they were indeed.
Would that more of us would be so outspoken, right then and there, and people's foolish, potentially deadly defensivenesses swept away as the trifles they truly are.
The Apostle Paul, 2 Timothy 4:2: Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
And in Romans 12: 4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: 5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; 7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; 8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness. 9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. 10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; 11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; 12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; 13 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. 14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. 15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. 16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. 17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
(I have underlined those passages I think Bill's way most demonstrated.)
Note that part about "not slothful in business." Bill's real business was his duty as he saw it: guarding those in peril who dared great things. Years ago, he let it slip that he had quit his drafting job and was living on his savings. I asked how he could be so disciplined as to pinch pennies, why he would not consider his livelihood first, and he said simply "This way I can work every race."
"Love" and "good" were to Bill not at all weak and goody-two-shoes, but direct and forceful and truthful, as the case demanded. I can't recall him ever raising his voice except to make an emphatic point about protecting lives. I can't recall him ever saying "well, whatever" when there was a differing of opinion, because he cared enough about the consequences of our actions to hammer out the evidence of what had happened or what could happen until the truth could be agreed to by all present.
I remember working with him about 1987, the last year of the Old Turn 4 at Laguna Seca. A rider broke his ankle in a 100-mph crash right in front of us. Bill shouted to him "Are you OK? Climb over the wall and stay protected here with us." After the rider had limped over the Armco barrier, I objected privately to Bill, shouting over the incredible racket of the ongoing race that I recalled injuring myself further in a similar incident at Sears Point when the shock of snapping a bone had temporarily blocked my pain. My experience as a motorcyle racer gave me another perspective to Bill's mainly sports-car experience. He though about it and agreed to abide by the opinions of the paramedics and the doctor on duty. At lunch, we both sought them out and the trauma professionals agreed with me.
Bill not only had no irrational emotional adhesions to his former opinion, he actively preached the new procedure to newcomers in the years that followed. Lesser men would have sulked, or harbored secret reservations. But Bill was refreshingly rational, a task-oriented team player, and a realist. Nothing mattered more to him than a correct outcome, and long-term success at our chosen service.
Somehow, after all these many races and seasons, we thought he'd always be there for us, pressing us to respond quicker, better, smarter, following up each incident with similar but differing scenarios as endless exercises.
Then again, since he was impossible to ignore for the past quarter century, he'll be with us, all right.
Dennis Baird
I too was saddened to hear about the passing of Bill Riggins. I imagine there are a few people wearing red/yellow clothing around his flag station, a few photogs within flag waving distance, and a few "rookie" turnworkers who might not share my feelings. Bill had a way of telling them where to go and EXACTLY how to get there. You have to love a guy like that. I've always considered Bill to be the best flagger around. I always felt very safe on the track with him flagging. If a situation needed a different flag, Bill either had it in his hand waiting for a signal or was already on it. Bill, Jeff Taylor, Chuck Bates, Rick Richards, and I did a lot of big races at turn 2. We argued a lot but man did we keep a clean track. Keep the flags waving Bill.
David J. Hartman,
Although I can't say that I knew Bill personally, anytime the AFM community loses a 'fraternal' member, I am saddened. It's good to know that viewing/participating in our racing made him happy; that's what it's all about.
Dave Hartman #366
Kevin Smith
I'm a member of the AFM, and recently learned of the death of your brother. Please accept my sympathy, and my best wishes for you and the rest of his family. I have raced with the AFM for 10 years, with the occasional stint as track worker. I used to think my race days were tough, until I spent a few weekends working the track. Although few racers know individual workers, most of us realize that we would not be able to race without them, and it is due only to their dedication and love of the sport that we are able to be as safe as we are. I sincerely appreciate your background information on Bill, and your willingness to tell us of the good feelings he had for our club.
Sincerely,
Kevin Smith
Glen Weaver
I just wanted to add my fondest memory of Bill Riggins, a guy who I always looked to talk to at the track for his unique, and often very humorous, perspective on how things were going that weekend.
We were working turn two together for an AMA National a few years ago -- Bill was flagging, of course. A well known photographer (Henny Abrams, I think) tried to set up camp right behind Bill's wooden stand and Bill warned him that he was too close, that he needed plenty of room to get his flag going in a hurry if necessary. Well, this guy apparently didn't know who he was dealing with, because he didn't heed the warning, even after a second request. So as soon as the bikes came onto course and headed up the hill, Bill turned, shoved the photographer out of his "space", and immediately went back to surveying his corner. Maybe not the official way to handle things, but it was about the funniest thing we had all seen that weekend (including the photographer's reaction), and all the other members of the press in attendance seemed to back Bill on his actions. It was a clear demonstration of his dedication to doing the best job he could, and putting the safety of the riders before all else.
I will miss Bill Riggins, but I'm glad so many shared a corner with him before he left us.
Glen Weaver AFM Announcer
I hope this sums it up for those with a lack of words at this time.. GOTTA LOVE'EM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Respectfully; Dave AFM 679
From Bill Riggins brother John...
Phill, I have been receiving several messages from AFM members. I appreciate the sentiments and support from everyone (even those that did not specifically know Bill).
I have been printing out the messages and forwarding copies to my (Bill's) Mom and Dad -- they seem to especially appreciate the kind thoughts of everyone concerned.
It is nice to know that Bill's real love in life was appreciated by so many. Thanks again for getting the ball rolling on this effort -- it is definitely heart-warming for us to see so many that are memorializing Bill through their comments. Thanks again, John N. Riggins -== JNR ==- jnrigg@nashville.com