Briggs died at age 79 in Milwaukee while on vacation. He was still teaching. The New York Times commented editorially:
"His long labor to make intercollegiate athletics clean, fair, sportsmanlike, civilized, devoid of the excess, ferocity, and muckerism that so long held sway, was slow in bringing fruit; but he lived to see the restoration of sanity and good manners in college contests."
Lovable Physiognomy
A Briggs centenary article in the December 1955 Alumni Bulletin said, "No one who ever saw him can forget the heart-warming physical appearance of the Dean."
Members of the classes of '11 to '15 gave money for the portrait of Briggs done by Edmund C. Tarbell that hangs in the Union.
Someone persuaded the Navy to name a Liberty Ship after him. A Navy spokesman said yesterday that he did not want to discuss the matter.
The Bulletin said in 1955, "Dean Briggs had an overwhelming reverence for life. He valued life as it was revealed in his faithful dogs and horses, letting them come to their natural end after years of companionship."