Barbados appears to have a stake in the United States’ next great hoops hope after it was recently revealed that top basketball college recruit Andrew Wiggins was born to a Bajan woman.
The 18-year-old Canadian high school player is the son of Barbadian-born Marita Payne-Wiggins, who is a Canadian citizen who represented the North American country in athletics at both the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games.
It would make the six-foot-seven wing player eligible to play for the ultramarine and gold if he so chooses, though that would be unlikely considering the younger Wiggins has already led Canada to bronze medal showings at the 2010 FIBA Under-17 World Championship and 2012 FIBA Americas Under-18 Championships.
Currently in his senior year at Huntington Prep School in West Virginia, Wiggins has been rated the top prospect coming out of high school having already won Naismith Prep Player of the Year award as America’s best high school player. NBA superstars LeBron James (2003) and Dwight Howard (2004) have each won the award.
Born in Toronto, but raised in Thornhill, Ontario, Wiggins is also the son of former National?Basketball Association (NBA) player Mitchell Wiggins, who had stints with the Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets and Philadelphia 76ers. Mitchell Wiggins was also on the United States national team that won a silver medal at the 1982 FIBA World Championships.
Payne-Wiggins is still the Canadian record holder in the 400 metres with a best of 49.91 seconds. (JM)
