Book tells Wingfield’s warts-and-all story

ALBANY — The white hair in his goatee has pretty much overtaken the black, and he walks with a noticeable limp.

But Dontonio Wingfield, the greatest basketball player — and, few would argue — the greatest athlete to ever come out of Albany/Dougherty County is still, at 44, a bigger-than-life presence.

He’s lost a leg to diabetes, lost his budding NBA career to an automobile accident that almost killed him, and he’s run through a fortune that most people only dream of accumulating in a lifetime, squandering it on drugs and in support of the eight children he fathered by the time he was in his mid-20s.

But the Dontonio Wingfield that people in Albany knew as the man-child who carried Westover High School to four consecutive state basketball championships and then had to live down a series of personal issues that all but tainted his accomplishments is not the same bright, well-spoken man who sits in a local restaurant to talk about the release of a book — “Chasing Success Finding Purpose: The Dontonio Wingfield Story” — as that long-ago person who forever put Albany on the high school basketball map.

Wingfield, who is publishing his biography — co-written with Byne Baptist Church Associate Pastor/author Bruce Pittman — through the Pivot Family Foundation as a way to finance his Albany Hawks youth basketball program, tells his warts-and-all story in “Chasing Success” with an openness that will surprise many. He talks of fathering those children, the first seven all by different mothers; of smoking copious amounts of weed before class on the days he bothered to show up, and even of becoming sexually involved with a teacher at the school.

But, Wingfield explains as he, Pittman and businessman Jay Sharpe, who with Wingfield is the principal behind the Pivot Foundation, enjoy a sit-down lunch, that Dontonio existed another lifetime ago. The young man who was so gifted his pathway to the NBA was cleared of potential snares — and there were plenty — by ambitious grownups, including coaches and even family members — an athlete whose concept of right and wrong was forever forged on the basketball court in south Albany’s Henderson Gym — is a new person.

“I went through so many different emotions during the long process of writing this book,” Wingfield said. “But in the end it dawned on me that I was the one who had to take responsibility for my life. I had so much malice in the beginning, malice toward the people who turned their backs on me and tried to hurt me. I let that go, though, understanding that malice was not necessary.

“I’m sure a lot of people will think ‘Don’s doing this for money or for more fame,’ but that’s not the case. I’ve already gotten what I wanted out of this book before it sells a single copy. I have a sense of accomplishment, and I feel a strong presence of God in my life.”

During an extended conversation, Wingfield talked about issues that impacted his storied life: the part that Westover Coach Willie Boston played in his development, the expectations of a community that he shouldered from the time he was a 15-year-old freshman prodigy, the level of trust he developed with Pittman and Sharpe while writing the book, the abrupt end of his NBA career, the important place that his Albany Hawks program now holds in his life.

All of those topics are discussed frankly in “Chasing Success,” whose genesis lies with a Facebook post Wingfield sent out looking for support for his program. One of the people who saw that post was Sharpe, who was a freshman at Westover when Wingfield led the Patriots to the third of their state titles.

“When I was in the seventh grade, my dad took me to a Westover-Albany High game,” Sharpe said. “Don was a freshman, but after the game I asked my dad what college he planned to go to next year. I was amazed at the talent of a guy so young. Then, when I got to Westover, I became a big fan of Don’s athletic ability. I can tell you about pretty much every playoff game, who Westover played, what the teams’ records were.

“I was a huge basketball fan, and being a Westover student I became a big Dontonio fan.”

When Sharpe, whose family owns and operates the U-Sav-It Pharmacy chain, saw Wingfield’s Facebook post looking for help, he reached out. He accompanied Wingfield to the local Sam’s Club outlet to buy snacks for the young athletes, and the two got into a conversation.

“I asked Don about his program and I remember asking him who was the next Dontonio Wingfield coming along,” Sharpe said. “I’ll never forget what he told me. He said, ‘I don’t focus on that type of player; they already get a lot of attention. I know that from personal experience. No, I focus on the novice players, the ones who play just to have something to do.’

“I was amazed, and that’s what started a relationship where Don and I became friends. I was already a fan of Dontonio Wingfield the athlete. Right then, I became a fan of Dontonio Wingfield the man.”

So Sharpe and Wingfield made the Pivot Family Foundation a reality. And what better way to introduce the world to the foundation than by telling the story of its principal benefactor, a man whose name is attached to both athletic superlative and personal notoriety.

When Wingfield told Sharpe he’d been collecting his memories into written form for some time, Sharpe introduced the basketball great to Pittman, who had written, co-written and published six other projects. The pastor said he had no qualms telling Wingfield’s often cringe-inducing story once the two bonded and he “found” Wingfield’s voice.

“One of the biggest challenges I had in writing this book was in making sure it was told in Don’s voice, not mine,” Pittman said. “I’d stop writing, read back over what I’d written and say, ‘Is this how Don said it?’ But I knew Don because his son and my son had played basketball together at Sherwood Christian (Academy), and that helped me to find an openness while talking with him.”

Pittman said a key element in the writing process was the trust that developed between himself and Wingfield, a statement that Wingfield enthusiastically endorsed.

“Don and I talked about his story, and I made it clear that I wanted to tell the good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly,” Pittman said. “But before we could get into the telling of his story, there was a sort of feeling-out period. But we developed a trust, and I think that’s one of the underlying themes about this whole project.”

Wingfield admitted to being amazed, some year-plus after they started working on the book, at the relationship he developed with Pittman.

“I consider Pitt a friend,” he said. “And there was a time in my life that under these circumstances (with both Pittman and Sharpe being white), we would not even have had a conversation. I was hesitant at first, but Pitt told me to just tell my story. I was amazed that he didn’t try to steer me in any particular direction, and actually I don’t think this would have worked if he’d done that.

“I didn’t take but a short while before we clicked.”

The Pivot Family Foundation has other multimedia projects in the works with Wingfield, but right now, they hope to raise money through the sale of “Chasing Success Finding Purpose: The Dontonio Wingfield Story” to not only support the Hawks program but to “give to other organizations that do good things for kids in our community.”

Many in the community are amazed — many to the point of anger — that Wingfield has not been named to the Albany Sports Hall of Fame. (Full disclosure, I have written columns saying any local hall of fame that excludes Wingfield is not a true hall of fame.) Wingfield, though, has a different, more poignant take.

“That stuff would have bothered me in the past,” he said, “but it really doesn’t now. I think the numbers take care of themselves in that regard. Man, I appreciate the support people have given me, but this is not something that’s life or death.

“I have a great relationship with my mother now. I’m an active father and grandfather now, and I get to hear my kids tell me they love me. And I just finished this book that I’m so proud of. Man, that’s my hall of fame.”

The Pivot Family Foundation is planning book signings in the area soon, but right now the only way to order copies of “Chasing Success Finding Purpose: The Dontonio Wingfield Story” is through amazon.