Richard 'Mole' Janigian
2008
Richard 'Mole'  Janigian, 78, who taught and coached sports at D.C. public  schools and who also directed the Redskin Singers for more than a dozen years  until the late 1990s, died June 16 of cardiac arrest at Sinai Hospital in  Baltimore. He was a longtime District resident.
Mr. Janigian taught physical education and biology at Bell Vocational High School for 22 years and later at Dunbar and Wilson high schools. He also coached  basketball, football and baseball at Bell and Wilson. He took the head baseball coaching job at Wilson in 1984 and led the team to three championships. He also coached sports at Bishop O'Connell High School in Arlington.
Early in his teaching career, Mr. Janigian testified before a congressional committee and was instrumental in getting Congress to pass legislation awarding high school teachers extra pay for coaching. At that time, coaches were limited  to teachers willing to volunteer.
Mr. Janigian was born in Washington, the youngest son of Armenian immigrants who operated the Mount Vernon Hotel at Fourth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW.
At  Wilson High School, from which he graduated, Mr. Janigian lettered in baseball, football and basketball. He was elected to the D.C. All High School Team and Jocks Hall of Fame. About 1945, he won a regional Golden Gloves Championship in Chicago.
He also earned letters in baseball and lacrosse at Washington College in Chestertown, Md., before graduating from D.C. Teachers College. He served two  years in the Navy and in the mid-1950s received a master's degree in education  from American University. Mr. Janigian was a past president of D.C. Coaches Association.
He was volunteer of the year at St. Mary Armenian Apostolic Church, where he was a member and served on the board oftrustees.
For more than 35 years, Mr. Janigian was involved with the Redskin Singers, also known as the Precisionists. He started at the old Griffith Stadium and continued with the ensemble group at RFK Stadium into the late 1990s, his brother said.
'His only claim to fame was that he went 26 years in a row without missing a Redskins home game,' said Paul Janigian of the District.
Survivors include his brother.
-- Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb