Home field advantage
Donor helps Harding Academy have field of its own
By Eric Moore
LITTLE ROCK — Still in its infancy compared to other baseball programs around the state, this year the Harding Academy Wildcats brought home a state championship in just their fifth year of fielding a team.
While this is a great accomplishment, it could not have happened if members of the community had not stepped up and helped the school revamp an old Harding University softball field into what is now Wiggins Field.
The name proudly displayed along the Beebe Capps Expressway is that of Joey Wiggins, the primary donor who helped make the field possible.
When the program first began, Danny DeRamus, thefather of one of the original Wildcat baseball players, came up with the idea to change the bleachers to make the stadium more fan-friendly, head coach Dennis Rine said.
As time went on, more and more ideas were bandied about, such as what it would take to make the field a regulation field complete with scoreboard. A dollar figure was attached, and the school set out in search of those willing to help make it happen.
One of the people who stepped up, in a big way, was Joey Wiggins, who donated a large portion of the money needed to complete the field. Wiggins did not have a son on the baseball team or even one old enough to play for the Wildcats, but he knew the needfor a top-rate baseball field for Harding Academy.
With his son only in elementary school, Wiggins donated the money to benefit the future of Harding Academy baseball, not looking for much recognition at all. In fact, the field was not named for Wiggins until the 2005-2006 season, a full three years after it had been completed.
“[The Wigginses] are good, generous people,” Rine said. “They were very involved in the school.”
The irony of the situation is that Wiggins’ son, Blake, may never get a chance to play on the field named after his family. During the past year, the family moved to Little Rock, a move that Rine hopes is just temporary.
“I hope they do come back,”Rine said.
And it is not just because they donated more money than anyone else for the project, but because of the overall generous nature and community spirit shown by the family.
In addition to displaying the name of the field for all to see traveling down one of the main thoroughfares in Searcy, the name of the field is also displayed prominently on the reverse side of the sign facing the field. So, on any given day, 300 to 500 people (depending on the number of bleachers) attending a game will know exactly who is responsible for the school having a baseball field independent of Harding University.
- emoore@ arkansasonline.com
This article was published Thursday, July 10, 2008.
Three Rivers, Pages 52 on 07/10/2008
