Born in Monticello, Fla to two Tallahassee natives, Veronica Wiggins has a unique story to tell about her birth. She was the first girl, fourth-born, in a family of nine children; four girls and five boys.
Her motherly nature was borne out of her rearing. Back then, the girls in a family were responsible for keeping the house clean and cooking and additional chores. Her mother did day work, so the eldest was the sergeant-at-arms, delegating responsibility and overseeing her siblings.
Growing up in Miami’s notoriously tough Liberty City, Wiggins learned to be crafty to make it in the tough environment. After graduating from Miami Jackson High School, she was bound for college at Miami-Dade Community College. Without a clear plan for college, it would take her 13 years after graduating from MDCC before she would make the trek to Tallahassee to live with her grandmother.
“I just packed up my apartment and moved with my dog from Miami, because I was grown. My friends didn’t think I would like the slow pace of Tallahassee, but I did. I found a comfort zone and something just felt right about being here,” Wiggins said.
She began work with the State of Florida and was initially content with making an honest living on her A.A degree from MDCC. But, as fate would have it, that would all change. Some local
college students encouraged her to apply for college and seek assistance. She did both.
She was accepted into FAMU and received financial assistance for her schooling. Still skeptical, she started with just one class. After passing that class, she put in her two weeks notice on her state job, as she was convinced that graduating from FAMU was her destiny.
She would earn her B.S. in Health Physical Education and Recreation in 1989 and follow it with her M.S. in 1990.
FAMU’s Physical Education department would be the platform that would fuel Wiggins’ passion for the school. Mentors such as the late Robert Mungen, Dr. Edwina Martin, Dr. Beverly Barber, Sarah Hill, Herb Reinhard and Bobby Lang would encourage her, not necessarily with words, but with their dedication to the students they taught, administered and coached.
Playing slow pitch softball her whole life, Wiggins was a part of the transition of FAMU to fast pitch. It was not an easy transition for any of the colleges in the state of Florida. It took a unified lobbying and petition effort from the state’s coaches to convince state legislators that the change was necessary, as fast pitch was steamrolling in popularity and the whole country was moving in that direction.
“When we first started playing fast pitch, we had recruited slow pitch players. All they could do was bunt and run…and play defense. Eventually we would get the roster fully-staffed in fast pitch players,” Wiggins said.
Then athletic director, Nelson Townsend, allowed Wiggins to volunteer with FAMU softball. During FAMU’s transition to bring in it’s first fast pitch coach, Wiggins was asked to condition the team and take them through drills as they waited the arrival of Sandy Pearsall as head softball coach. Upon Pearsall’s arrival, she would retain Wiggins as her assistant coach.
Pearsall was hired away and Robin Abbey took the helm of the Rattlers for two seasons. Wiggins, at that point, was content with concentrating on her masters degree and stepped away from softball briefly.
In 1992, Townsend would call Wiggins and offer her the reigns of the softball program…the rest is history. 700 wins, 12 conference championships and 9 NCAA appearances later, she’s still on top of her game. She’s managed to keep her approach fresh and adapt to the ever-changing world of softball.
