Dudley Riggs ( American football ) Thomas Dudley Riggs ( January 28 , 1875 – May 22 , 1913 ) was an All - American football player . He played for Princeton University and was selected as an All - American in 1895 . Early years . Riggs was the son of Lawrason Riggs , a well - known banker of Baltimore , Maryland . The family had founded and operated Riggs Bank , which financed Samuel Morse ' s invention of the telegraph in 1845 and lent $ 16 million to the United States to fund the Mexican - American War . Riggs received his elementary training in a Baltimore private school and later attended St . Paul ' s School , a private preparatory school in Concord , New Hampshire . All - American football player at Princeton . After completing his studies at St . Paul ' s , Riggs enrolled at Princeton University . He followed his older brother , Jesse Riggs , to Princeton . Jesse had been an All - American for Princeton ' s football team , and Dudley followed in his older brother ' s footsteps by joining the Princeton football team . In September 1893 , a newspaper account compared Dudley to his older brother : " Another new man that gives much promise is a brother of the great Jesse Riggs , ' 92 . This one ' s name is Dudley and he weighs 185 pounds - - not bad to begin with . It is said he is another Jesse , built like him , a football fighter of his spirit and just as tricky as the big guard . . . " By 1895 , Riggs weighed 211 pounds and was 6 - feet , 1 - inch in height . He played center for Princeton ' s varsity football team in 1894 and left guard in 1895 . At the end of the 1895 season , Riggs was selected as an All - American . He graduated from Princeton with a Bachelor of Sciences degree as part of the class of 1897 . Later years . After graduating from Princeton , Riggs married Miss Laura Lanman , of Hartford , Connecticut , and the couple traveled to Scotland for their honeymoon . Riggs and his wife had three children , T . Dudley Riggs , Jr . , Elizabeth Riggs and Mary Lawrason Riggs . He was active in Baltimore ' s clubs . He was a member of the Baltimore and Pimlico Country Clubs the Baltimore Hunt Club , and the Green Spring Valley Hunt Club . He was also active in the Masonic organization , and the president of the Paint and Powder Club . Riggs was a friend of John D . Rockefeller , Jr . , and the two were observed by reporters traveling to Philadelphia in 1907 in a new 60 – Isotta - Fraschini limousine . Riggs was also a breeder of horses , beagles and other hunting dogs . His beagle , Nordley Ben , was entered in contests throughout the country . Riggs was also an officer of the National Beagle Club of America . Riggs and his family lived for many years on a estate in Stevenson , Maryland in Green Spring Valley . The estate included a large home , stables , and several outbuildings . In 1907 , Riggs sold his Maryland estate for $ 50 , 000 and moved to Hartford , Connecticut to engage in business . Three years later , in 1910 , Riggs purchased several acres in the Brooklandwood section of Green Spring Valley . Riggs died in 1913 at Baltimore , Maryland , aged 38 . He died of pemphigus , a disease usually found in cattle and commonly known as " foot and mouth disease . " Riggs was a horse breeder and was believed to have contracted the disease in the stables of his country home in the Green Springs Valley . Riggs was survived by his wife and children .