John C. Risher was born May 11, 1910 in Carnegie, Pennsylvania. His family moved shortly after to a farm in Shadwell, just outside of Charlottesville. In 1919, Risher saw his first Virginia football game as a young child from an apartment window that overlooked UVA’s Lambeth Field. That memory helped shape a lifelong passion of and devotion to Virginia Football.

Risher served the team first as a manager and then as a player. He graduated in 1932 with a degree in chemistry; he went on to graduate from the Medical School in 1963. Risher practiced medicine for 35 years in Lynchburg as an ear, nose and throat specialist.

Risher was forced to take a break from his medical practice after the outbreak of World War II. Through it all, though, Risher never lost sight of his passion for Virginia football.

From 1963 through the 2016 Virginia football season, Risher was an active member of the football statistical crew in the Scott Stadium press box. It all began in his office, when one day Risher started talking Cavalier football with one of his new patients, Paul Wiseman, who had been working on the stat crew at UVA football games since 1956. The two became fast friends and Wiseman was able to get Risher on the crew starting with the 1963 season.

Along with Paul Wisman, Risher contributed more than 50 years of dedicated service to the Virginia Football program as game-day statisticians in the press box.