9102110320
DETROIT FREE PRESS
911105
Tuesday, November 05, 1991
METRO FINAL
1D
MITCH ALBOM
Copyright (c) 1991, Detroit Free Press
THE WILT EQUATION: DOES IT ALL ADD UP?
Today we answer the most talked-about question in sports: Is it possible
that Wilt Chamberlain slept with 20,000 women?
Wait. Let me check my watch.
Make that 20,001.
Chances are you have heard about Wilt's claim. He wrote it in his new
book, "A View From Above," which I always thought referred to his height.
Maybe it refers to the mirror over his bed.
Twenty thousand women. That's what he says. He told me personally, Sunday
night, when we did a radio talk show together. I must admit, Wilt looked
remarkably fit for a guy who has endured so much sexual activity. After 20,000
women, I expected him to be wheeled in on a slab, with a dumb grin on his
face. He said he was only in town for a brief stay; I sent the secretaries
home, just in case.
"So Wilt," I began, and here, being the thoughtful, intelligent type of
talk-show host who gets no ratings, I paused, looking for important subjects
rather than the cheap and tacky sex stuff.
"So," I said. "IS IT TRUE, OR WHAT?"
"It's 20,000," Wilt insisted. "I went back to my old date books and figured
it out."
Which is what people across the country are doing right now. The Wilt
Equation. America hasn't done this much calculating since the stock market
crashed. You see men by the water coolers, counting on both hands. Let's see,
if you take Wilt's age (55), figure the year he says he started (15), divide
it into the total number of women (20,000), you come up with . . . an
average, he writes, of 1.2 women per day.
Personally, it's the .2 that has me confused. Is .2 just a slow dance? Or
a soulful kiss?
For me, .2 was high school.
But I was always weak in math.
Wilt says he plays it safe
"I had no idea people would make such a fuss over this," Chamberlain
admitted Sunday. "It's a small part of the book. I didn't write it to brag.
People are always asking about my statistics, how many points I scored, stuff
like that. So I figured they would be interested in another statistic."
Yeah. Wait'll the fantasy leagues get ahold of this.
Actually, it's not the numbers that impress me, but the timing. If you
allow for sick days, travel days and the occasional day when he just didn't
feel like it (if there ever was such a day) you pretty much figure that, in
order to squeeze everyone in, Wilt's conversations had to go something like
this:
WOMAN: "Hi, aren't you--"
WILT: "YOUR PLACE OR MINE?"
Now. I should say here that Chamberlain does not encourage promiscuity,
although coming from a man nicknamed "The Big Dipper" you take that for what
it's worth. Much of his bedroom activity, he said, came during the '60s and
'70s when, as he put it, "there was a sexual revolution going on."
Obviously, Wilt made general.
I also should mention that Wilt promotes Safe Sex. AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN
POSSIBLY HAVE IT. No. Ha. I just threw that in because, when you sit next to a
man who has lost count of how many countries he has had sex in, you feel a
little inferior.
And then John Salley showed up.
And I really felt like a monk.
"Hey, big fella," Wilt said.
"Hey, big fella," Salley said.
Was I glad I had sent the secretaries home.
Salley, like Wilt, is not married, hovers in the 7-foot range and has a
reputation as a ladies man, although his Pistons coach, Chuck Daly, would
prefer a few fewer dates and a few more dunks.
Anyhow, I figured Salley dropped by for a few tips, or maybe some of
Wilt's old phone numbers. They started talking. Next thing you know, they'd be
on the air saying: "Betty from Hoboken? You knew Betty from Hoboken? Last
time I saw her--"
I tried to think fast: What would Dr. Ruth do?
I went back to sports questions. I asked Wilt about the NBA. I asked about
salaries. I asked about the time he scored 100 in one night. Points, that is.
"Let's go to the phones," I said, satisfied I had diverted the subject.
"Hello, you're on the air . . ."
"Yeah, Wilt? About this 20,000 women thing. That's like, unbelievable!"
An equal-opportunity lover
Now. I know many women are reading this column, and perhaps some feel
Wilt's claim is insulting. Perhaps they feel women should not be rung up like
a pinball score.
To these women I say: You are right. At least I think you are right. But
what do I know? I consider it a good night if a waitress takes my order.
"I love women, and I truly respect women," Wilt said. I have no doubt as
to the former. And, actually, I can believe the latter. Wilt Chamberlain is
not into groping, a la Mike Tyson. (After 20,000 love scenes, how much of a
thrill can groping be?)
Wilt says he simply enjoys making love, and has done so with women of all
races and nationalities. He says as far as he knew -- and he claims he always
asked -- none of his partners were married, because he does not believe in
infidelity. He also says he never had sex right before a game.
I hope he told Salley that.
So is it true? Who knows? Maybe, it's like Wilt writes in his book,
"There are a few of us who are fortunate enough to be in a position to fulfill
our lustful desires. And I'm one of those lucky ones."
Or, as the old song goes:
Wise men say, only fools rush in
But I can't help falling in love with you
and you and you and you and you and you . . .