Johnson, Chamberlain Criticized in Book by Ashe : Memoirs: Late tennis star says their claims of promiscuity helped reinforce racial stereotypes.

The sexual activities of Magic Johnson and Wilt Chamberlain reinforced racist stereotypes of the black man as a slave to his sex drive, the late Arthur Ashe says in his memoirs.

Ashe, in a book completed less than three weeks before his death Feb. 6 from AIDS, also criticizes the players who kept the HIV-positive Johnson from returning to the NBA and details an uncharacteristic near-brawl with John McEnroe.

Ashe, the only black man to win Wimbledon, was 49 when he died.

In the book “Days of Grace,” published by Knopf, Ashe said the behavior of Johnson, who was open about his promiscuity, and Chamberlain, who claimed 20,000 “conquests,” produced “a certain amount of racial embarrassment.

“African Americans have spent decades denying that we are sexual primitives by nature, as racists have argued since the days of slavery,” Ashe wrote. “These two college-trained black men of international fame and immense personal wealth do their best to reinforce the stereotype.”

Johnson reacted through his agent, Lon Rosen.

“I have always taken full responsibility for my actions and risked public alienation by coming forward with my story,” Johnson said. “It is my hope that by taking the straightforward approach, I have begun and will continue to educate and bring awareness to the prevention and spread of this disease.”

Chamberlain was unavailable for comment.

The book covers Ashe’s life and includes his decision to go public with his condition--the result of a blood transfusion.

The McEnroe incident occurred when Ashe was captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team in 1981. McEnroe’s antics had the normally unflappable Ashe in a frenzy.

“I had never punched anyone in my life, but I was truly on the brink of hitting him,” Ashe wrote. “I couldn’t trust myself not to strangle him. Of course, if I had, any jury would have acquitted me.”