Waltham High Athletic Trainer Deb Riggott Retires After 32 Years

WALTHAM, MA — A fixture of Waltham High School's athletic department is retiring Friday. As Waltham High School field hockey coach Denise Nugent introduced keynote speaker Deb Riggott at the school's Robert A. Connors 10/24 Captain's Club Banquet last month, she did so praising the contributions Riggott has made to the school as its athletic trainer for 32 years — and there are many.

Then Nugent said something that resonated with anyone who ever dealt with Riggott in a trainer's room, sideline or classroom: "I told them that I wish, for all the success they will have in the future, I wish they can all have a friend like I've had in her the last 29 years working at Waltham High School."

Friday, the last day of school for Waltham students, will be Riggott's last day, too.

Riggott came to Waltham High as a former All-American field hockey player at Mitchell College in Conneticut. She then went on to play at Miami University of Ohio. For more than three decades, she not only served as the school's athletic trainer, she served as the fabric that connected generations of athletes, coaches and administrators — and was their biggest fan.

"I've seen her do that job through different lenses," said Brenda Burke, a former three-sport athlete and varsity softball coach who is also a physical education teacher at WHS. "It's one of the toughest jobs at the school because you have so many demands. You have to deal with so many people; from parents, to coaches, to the athletic administration."

But Riggott was able to do it with ease because of her personality, she said.

"She had a passion for her profession. But her biggest passion was for the Waltham athlete," Burke said.

Riggott, who was elected into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2016, made the 33-mile journey up often-gridlocked Route 128 from Walpole each school day, not to mention plenty of weekends during football and hockey seasons. Often, she would leave home as the sun was rising, and during the winter season multiple days a week would not leave the school until after the last basketball or hockey player was taken care of well past 9 p.m.

"It was sort of like our whole family revolved around the job," Gary Riggott, her husband, told Patch.

When their two children, Lexie and Steven, were young they'd make their mom's job a family event on Saturday nights.

"We were able to make it work because a lot of it we were able to do together," he said. "I knew Debbie was exactly in the job she was meant to be in."

Technically, Riggott's job was to wrap ankles, ice down bruises and assess more serious injuries from the sidelines. But she took on roles through the years until she was part administrator, part coach and every bit the heart of the support system at Waltham High.

"I don’t think I would have survived my job without her," said Bill Foley, Waltham's athletic director from 1992 to 2016.

He said with nearly 30 varsity sports at the school alone and so many athletic events to attend,to the job can get a little crazy.

"She kept me sane. She would do everything you needed her to do without you having to ask," he said. "Anything that came up, it was: 'Don't worry, I'll take care of it.'"

There was always something comforting to Waltham athletes and coaches having Riggott near the bench.

"She’s given so many crazy hours and sacrificed a lot of time with her family," Nugent said. "But she did it for her Waltham High family. She's the most knowledgeable, most caring, person I've ever met, and the trust we had in her was unconditional."

With her professional acumen, her practical knowledge of the WHS student-athlete, and her sense of humor that helped keep things light when they were at their most stressful amid a dramatic victory or devastating loss, Riggott was the constant that kept the heads and the bodies of the Hawks in the game.

"She always did right by the Waltham student-athlete," said Nugent. "She will always be a part of Waltham."