Like a lot of parents, it was Lamont “Monty G” Anderson’s dream for his son Donald to follow in his footsteps. So Lamont was thrilled when he showed interest in his father’s career.
Monty recalls taking Donald as a kid with him to practice rapping, dressing him like the hip-hop artists, teaching him how to work the most important parts of his act. “I gave him a rap name which was Donald D,” Lamont said, “and assisted him with writing raps, and giving him criticism and critiquing. I was recording him so that he could be better at it just like me.”
As Donald D continued to grow into his own person, he grew to love basketball which he started playing when he was only 6. Even as a youngster when he played basketball in the school yard, he outshined the other players.“The neighborhood kids would say, ‘Did you see him wiggle out of that hold or around that guy? And soon everyone begins to call him Wiggles,” Lamont says.
While in school and at home, Wiggles was the jokester and class clown, making his family and peers laugh while they were doing their classwork or other activities. He was silly and just loved having fun by making others laugh, Monty G stated.
Wiggles loved wearing his hair in braids and that became his signature look. Everyone that knew him loved his sparky personality and loved that he loved basketball. It was a way to keep him out of trouble and to pass time for him.
His skills got him into different basketball leagues where he would further learn the discipline of the sport and you would often find him on the basketball court in the Grays Ferry section of South Philadelphia. He even won many trophies, including the MVP trophy one year, and several colleges were interested in recruiting him.
Wiggles decided to put college on the back burner and took time off after graduating from South Philadelphia High School. He was learning carpentry instead and was progressing with his skills when his life got cut short.
On August 28, 2008 he was shot dead on the 2900 block of Gerritt Street, and the shooter was caught soon after. Donald was 24.
Before his death, he was becoming something like the neighborhood handyman.
“This was a way for him to make money by doing odds and ends such as small household projects that others could not do for themselves,” his dad said. “He loved doing things with his hands so this was a no brainer for him to learn carpentry skills.”
Monty G and Wiggles bonded over their love for basketball and sports in general. While Monty G is known for being Philadelphia’s # 1 hype man, his son loved the Boston Celtics. “Any time our teams played one another we would clown each other especially when the wrong slash right team lost.” “We watched the games together as well as went to the games together which made our bond closer.
“This was our time together; I miss him especially when our teams play against one another.”
