Nov. 30, 2005
By Tony Kuttner, Special for USA TODAY
SAN FRANCISCO -- Candice Wiggins will never be just Candice Wiggins, Stanford All-American.
Alan Wiggins Jr. will never be just Alan Wiggins, University of San Francisco starting forward.
For them, there is the additional qualifier: children of Alan Wiggins, the former second baseman for the Baltimore Orioles and San Diego Padres whose career was cut short because of drug abuse and who died in 1991 of complications related to AIDS.The siblings differ slightly in their tolerance for that qualifier about their father.
"It's been overused, that whole idea," says Candice, a 5-11½ sophomore guard. "But it's not like I'm waiting for the day that they stop talking about my father because I do think he should be recognized."
Candice was a month shy of her fourth birthday when her father died; Alan Jr. a few months past his sixth.
Their mother, Angela raised the two, plus older sister Cassandra, a recent New York University graduate, and encouraged them to achieve academically and athletically regardless of their heritage.
"That's why Candice wears No. 11 and Alan wears No. 25," she says. (Alan Sr. wore No. 2 for the Orioles and Padres.) "Where they are has nothing to do with their dad. It's their hard work."
While never forgetting Alan Sr., Angela has made sure not to dwell on his tragedy.
"I might be their biggest problem because they know how hurt I am about Alan's death," she says. "But I don't tell them much about our relationship because, you know, that's our relationship."
Now Alan Jr. is recognized as much for being Candice's brother as for being his father's son.
"I really don't care about that," says Alan, a 6-8 junior forward. "As long as the Wiggins name is being lifted up, it could be anybody in my family. Everything I do on the floor I do for my family and lifting my father's name up."
So far, Candice has been doing most of the heavy lifting for the family.
She averaged 17.5 points and 5.4 rebounds and was named national co-Freshman of the Year and Pac-10 Player of the Year as the starting off-guard for a Cardinal team that ended the regular season No. 1.
Alan Jr. has not been as quick to make a name for himself. He averaged points 2.8 points as a freshman, then broke into the Dons starting rotation last year, averaging 5.8 points and four reboundsfor a USF squad that finished 17-14 after falling in the second round of the NIT.
This season, he's averaging 11.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks a game for the 1-3 Dons. That includes a career-best 21 points and six blocks in a Nov. 23 loss at Stanford, right before Candice scored 22 to lead the Cardinal against Fresno State in the second half of a Maples Pavilion doubleheader.
Alan's numbers trail his sister's (18.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists) but their mother says her son has had to come a longer way.
Candice was a star from the beginning, playing and beating fifth-grade boys as a fourth-grader.
Alan wasn't a prodigy, Angela says, and his basketball development was hampered when she wouldn't let him play as a seventh-grader because his grades weren't up to par.
When he was allowed to play again, Angela says, no one wanted him.
"Someone told me he wasn't going to be anything in basketball," she says. "I had to create a team for him to play.
"One good year with Hard Work (the name she gave the team), and after that everyone in San Diego wanted him."
As a post player Alan has never been much for compiling assists, at least not in the conventional sense. He averages less than one a game in his career, but he is instrumental in delivering advice.
"He's hard to talk to because he doesn't really give me the answers I want," Candice says. "He'll give you the answer that you know but you don't want to tell yourself, like you didn't do this, this or this."
Candice and Alan share another challenge: Both are being asked to play out of position. Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer has Candice, a natural shooting guard, running the point this season.
USF coach Jessie Evans wants Alan, a small forward, to play the post.
Both coaches rave about how teachable the Wigginses are, and both spoke highly of their work ethic.
"It's my Mom," Candice says. " I play so hard all the time because she told me you have to work all the time and things aren't going to be handed to you, so I really credit her for that."