Ed Van Winkle

Ed Van Winkle

Eddie or Ed Van Winkle coached at MCC for nine years, from 1967 to 1976 after Dr. John D. Riggs hired him to be the Head Basketball Coach. This Arizona native "took down the nets" for Mesa’s first ACCAC Conference Championship in the 1970-71 season. They were ACCAC Co-Champs in 1975. Coach Van Winkle won 62 percent of his games overall, going 158-97 and 75-49 in the ACCAC. During that time, he generated 22 All ACCAC Conference players and two NJCAA All Americans.

Mesa was not Coach Van Winkle’s first coaching job. He coached basketball, football, and even taught at Ajo High School from 1955-62, served as NAU’s assistant football and basketball coach for the ’62-’63 season, and Cochise College’s Athletic Director and Head Basketball Coach from 1963-66. For the 1966-67 season, Coach Van Winkle served as Head Basketball Coach and Chair of the Physical Education Department for Hartnell College in California before coming to Mesa Community College for nine consecutive winning seasons.

In 1971 and 1976, Coach Van Winkle was named ACCAC Coach of the Year and in 1975 selected to assist the coaching staff at the Pan American Games trials. He was also selected to coach in the 1972 Olympic trials in preparation for the Olympic Games in Munich, Germany.

In between all that coaching, Ed earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree and remained actively involved as a faculty member and department chair.

In 1986, Coach Van Winkle was selected as Rehabilitator/Teacher of the Year by the Mayor of Mesa’s Committee on Handicap Awareness. Finally, in 1987, he would retire then serve the next 17 years as an instructor in the Active Retiree Program in the Adaptive Physical Education Program.