Ex-basketball star gets life back on track after overcoming sexual compulsion

Jet, May 25, 1998

Winston Bennett was on his way to the top.

He was a basketball star in high school in Louisiana, at the University of Kentucky and then spent three years in the NBA.

When injuries cut his basketball career short, he went into the banking business. He also landed a spot on a Kentucky basketball radio station, where he caught the attention of then-Kentucky coach Rick Pitino.

Pitino was impressed with Bennett. He brought Bennett on his staff. And when Pitino went to Boston to take the helm of the Celtics, Bennett went with him.

Just when everything seemed to be going well, Bennett's life fell apart.

On Feb. 10, the Celtics negotiated a buyout and ended his contract.

There were a lot of rumors about why Bennett was fired. He recently told why to Rick Bozich in USA Today, and he told how he is now rebuilding his personal and professional life.

Bennett, 33, was fired for violating the team's contractual agreement with Brandeis University in Waltham, MS--where the Celtics practice--by having a sexual relationship with a female student.

It was only then that Bennett began to seek help for his sexual compulsion problem.

He's not sure where his behavior began, maybe when he was a basket ball star at Male High School in Louisiana. Because he had been brought up in a strict environment, Bennett felt this behavior was rebellious.

"I always had this sense of rebellion," he told USA Today. "I remember the first time Bennett my mother found out about this (behavior in high school), she nearly became hysterical. I felt so guilty. There was a part of me that felt the shame of the whole ordeal and knew what I was doing was very wrong.

"But at the same time my flesh enjoyed being with another woman."

This behavior continued at Kentucky, where he met his future wife Peggy, whom he married two months into his rookie season in the NBA. Despite being married, Bennett continued to see other women.

"The temptations were tremendous," he told USA Today. "They were everywhere, and the behavior was everywhere around me. But the key difference is me having such a strict childhood upbringing that I knew my behavior was totally wrong and demonic.

"It got to the point that I felt my career was cut short because of my disobedience to God," he continued.

But the ending of his NBA career after only three years and his guilty feelings were not enough to make Bennett stop his behavior.

It continued even after he met and began to work for Pitino, who advised him to seek help.

"I didn't know what help was all about," Bennett said. "I'd think, `What do you mean, get help?' I didn't think I needed help. I was dating as many women as I could."

He had to confront this problem after Pitino was informed of his relationship with the student at Brandeis, which Bennett didn't deny.

"I believe now that I was crying out for help," he said.

Since February, with the assistance of his minister, Bishop Michael Ford of Christ Temple Apostolic Church in Louisville, and Pitino, Bennett has completed two counseling programs, including the Masters and Johnson program for trauma and sexual compulsion at River Oaks Hospital in New Orleans.

"Winston is a tremendous young man, he just has one terrible weakness," Pitino said. "We're trying to help him with that problem, to keep his family together and to turn his life in the right direction.

"He can do that. And if he does, there is always a chance he can come back as a coach."

Bennett says he intends to rebuild his life with his family, which includes his wife, son and two daughters. He's not banking anything on basketball.

"Basketball isn't important to me right now. It really isn't," he said. "My life has to be defined by my relationship to God and to my family. I've caused a lot of pain for a lot of people. I just want to show that I can turn my life around."