Candice Wiggins’ Accomplishments Tainted by Father’s Dark Legacy

Candice Wiggins always had the raw talent and drive to be one of the best.

A point guard and Southern California native, Candice achieved her dream of playing in the WNBA after a record- breaking career at Stanford University.

Growing up she was often compared to her father, major league baseball player, Alan Wiggins.  She was four when he died from aids after a long struggle with depression and drug abuse.

“I ran like him, I looked like him, and so that became like kinda my blueprint of how I was going to succeed. Because my family I gave them so much comfort.”

In the wake of his death, Candice felt that her family’s well being depended on her ability to carry on his legacy of success.

“It was definitely the driving force for me, and I knew that there was a way that I could create joy in a situation where there was so much pain.”

In high school, Candice carried her team to two state titles.  It earned her a full ride to Stanford.  There she became a four time all American.  And there she felt her team success was based on how well she performed.  

“That was one thing that I did carry very heavy, Stanford was this idea of putting the women's basketball program on my back, and that was really what it was to the point where even my senior year at Stanford my coach, Tara Vanderveer said, 'you're carrying us.  You know, it's on you.'"

Candice was so focused on doing well at basketball that her childhood commitment to Jesus Christ lost its place in her life.

“I had never communicated with him. I just didn't.  I had a Bible in my dorm that my grandmother gave me, it was a cumbersome length, I was intimidated by it. I didn't dive in, I didn't pray.”

Even though she had made a name for herself, Candice was still under the shadow of her father’s dark legacy.

But now as I was getting bigger and bigger in college, you know, this monster that was following me was creeping up.

That monster confronted her in March 2008. Hours before her team was to go up against Maryland in the NCAA quarter finals she went online to read an article that had been written about her.

“I was going to read this wonderful write up on myself and they've talk about how that was just the biggest game of my life, and here I'm looking for it and there's nothing on me.  It's all on my dad.”

It dawned on Candice that people cared more about how she performed, than they did her.

“It hit me like a knock-out punch. I felt defeated.  I felt like no one cares for my soul. That’s what I felt. For the first time I felt like I was born into a terrible circumstances and I started questioning. This is the biggest game of my entire life.  Our family legacy is on the line, my legacy's on the line, my WNBA dreams are on the line.”

“I couldn’t go to my coach, I couldn’t go to my friends, I knew they didn’t have the answers.  I knew there was only one source and I just said, I’m going to go straight to the source.”

Candice knew the only one she could turn to was God.

“I was pleading with Him like, "please, just, if nothing else, just erase all of this pain. And it was like the first time that I actually relied on that, my prayer”

“Then here was this quietness, it was like this calm and this peace "okay, this is something different now.”  

Candice scored a career high 41 points that night, leading her team to victory and a spot in the final four.

“I broke a record that no male nor female has broken yet, but the crazy part about the game was that it wasn't me.  There must have been angels or someone, something, around me because every shot I would take, I'd be like, 'why would you shoot that, that's terrible?'  I would just throw it up, and it would go in. Oh my gosh this is an answer to prayer.”

The team lost their final four matchup against University of Tennessee, ending Candice’s college career. But now Candice didn’t base her identity on wins or losses or even her father, it came from her relationship with Jesus Christ.

“It was God answering my prayer in that time.  He knows us when we're at our lowest point and Him understanding exactly what I needed, well, more than I needed, I needed Him to hear me, and for Him to talk to me through the game.”
    
“It was, like you said, for me to finally be Candice Wiggins, not Alan Wiggins' daughter.”

She’s grown in her faith and has learned even more about her identity in Jesus Christ. And now after 8 years in professional basketball Candice has recently announced her retirement.

But there’s one thing she’ll always take with her.

“For me, Jesus was a path, a leader.  He gave me an outlet, a way where I didn't have to be perfect.  My life didn't have to be perfect.  He gave me a way out of all of the guilt that I had held on to, all of the people-pleasing. I finally could just exhale.”

• -WNBA Photo Courtesy of Annie Flanagan/The Player's Tribune