Dr. John W. Winkin coached baseball for 53 years, including the last 11 at Husson University, complying an overall record of 1036-703-6 (.595).
A member of 11 halls of fame, Winkin began his coaching career in 1955 at Colby College where he spent 20 years and was named the 1965 National Coach of the Year. There, he compiled a record of 301-202-5 (.598).
Winkin then moved on to the University of Maine in 1975, where his teams went 642-430-3 (.599) over 22 seasons and made six trips to the College World Series to go along with 11 National Collegiate Athletics Association regional appearances.
Twice the Black Bears finished third in the College World Series under Winkin, who also was named New England Division I Coach of the Year in 1975 and Northeast Region Division I Coach of the Year six times while at UMaine. His Black Bear teams were known for playing extremely tough regular-season schedules and posting wins against some of the nation's powerhouse teams.
In 1996, Winkin was hired for a fellowship in sports leadership position at Husson University and was named an assistant baseball coach under hall of fame member John "JK" Kolasinski '85.
During his time as an assistant under Kolasinki, Winkin helped the Braves post an overall record of 151-129 (.539) with a 73-25 (.745) mark in conference play with three Maine Athletic Conference Championships in 1997, 1998 and 2002, two National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics New England runner-up finishes in 1997 and 2000, a Sunrise Conference Runner-Up finish in 2003 as well as a Sunrise regular season title in 2003.
After Kolasinski resigned in the fall of 2003, Winkin was named Husson University’s 16th head coach in program history by than director of athletics Gabby Price on November 25, 2003. Winkin then led the Eagles to a 93-71 (.567) record, including a 34-14 (.708) mark in conference play with one Sunrise championship in 2004 during his four years at the helm of the program.
His teams earned postseason berths in all four years of his head coaching tenure, while reaching the conference championship game four times. Husson reached the 20-victory plateau in three of Winkin’s four years and posted 25 or more wins three times, including the 2004 and 2006 teams which posted a single-season record 27 wins - at the time.
He produced 20 all-conference selections, eight conference all-tournament honorees and seven NAIA all-northeast regional players. Additionally, Winkin coached one Sunrise player of the year.
On March 12, 2006, Winkin became the 44th collegiate baseball coach to reach 1,000 career victories when Husson defeated Drew University, 6–3, in Tampa, Florida.
In 1986, Winkin was awarded the American Baseball Coaches Association/Wilson Lefty Gomez Award for his contributions to the game of baseball at the local, national and international level. He also received the Eastern College Athletic Conference James Lynah Distinguished Achievement Award in 1987 for his outstanding success in his career and his unusual contribution to the interest of intercollegiate athletics, the NCAA and the ECAC.
In addition to his coaching career, Winkin was also a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy during World War II, was a founding editor of Sport Magazine and hosted the first Major League Baseball pre-game show with Mel Allen and Curt Gowdy. He also wrote four books, including co-writing the Baseball Coaching Bible and Maximizing Baseball Practice Indoors. Winkin, who served as president of the ABCA in 1973, was the athletic director at Colby College and served on a number of NCAA baseball committees, as well as being appointed to run several NCAA division I regionals after he left UMaine. He served on the ABCA board of directors and several other ABCA committees.
However, Winkin’s biggest contribution to Husson University was when he donated the proceeds from selling his summer camp in the summer of 2000 to help transform Husson’s baseball field into a multisport complex, complete with FieldTurf, dugouts and a press box. The Dr. John W. Winkin Sports Complex, the home to Husson’s baseball, field hockey and football teams, is named in his honor.
