Harry William Winkler II (1945 – ), a two-time U. S. Olympian team handball player and Palm Beach County Sports Hall of Fame inductee, showed athletic promise at an early age. As a student at Conniston Junior High School, he excelled in baseball, basketball, football, and track. His reputation as an outstanding athlete became even more deserved in his years at Forest Hill Community High School where he mainly focused on track and basketball. As a high school track star, he won the Florida State Decathlon of 1963 and was honored as the high point man at the Florida State Track Meet that same year. His successes in basketball were equally impressive. Winkler set a single-game scoring record (55 points) for his school and was named to the Florida All-State Basketball Team of 1963. His success on the court caught the attention of the University of Florida’s head basketball coach, Norm Sloan, who offered him a basketball scholarship.
Accepting Sloan’s offer, Winkler made the move to Gainesville after his high school graduation in the summer of 1964. The following year, his name appeared on the roster of the South Eastern Conference (SEC) All-SEC Sophomore Basketball Team. Though attending school on a basketball scholarship, Winkler also joined the university’s track team. During his sophomore season, he was ranked nationally by Track and Field News in the decathlon. As a junior, his finishes in three different events (shot put, javelin, and discus) earned him the honor of high point man at the SEC Track Meet. Though athletics accounted for a considerable amount of his time, Winkler kept up with his academics. He received both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from the University of Florida in Physical Education and Health. After graduating from his master’s program in 1970, he received a commission from the United States Army as a second lieutenant.
Winkler’s army service proved to be the gateway to an exciting opportunity. On base, he was introduced to the newest Olympic sport: team handball. It was not long before the United States National Men’s Handball Team sent him an invitation to try out for an available position. Six months after making the team, he received yet another invitation, this time to Munich, Germany as a member of the 1972 United States Men’s Olympic Handball team. Continuing to compete nationally after the 1972 games, Winkler again represented the United States at the Summer Games of 1976 in Montreal.
After his appearance in two Olympics and nearly five years of competitive handball with the United States National Men’s Handball Team, Winkler decided that his days as a competitor were over. He wanted to remain in the sport, just in a different capacity. For the next three years, he coached the United States Women’s Handball Team. Had international events not intervened, Winkler may have even gone on to coach an Olympic team at the Moscow Summer Games of 1980. But the United States refused to send athletes there and Winkler retired from coaching that same year. Though no longer a coach, Winkler did serve as the Assistant Competition Director for Handball at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.
Throughout his years as an Olympic athlete and coach, Winkler had also been putting the degrees he had earned at the University of Florida to use. In 1972 he returned to his high school alma mater, this time as a health and life management skills instructor. He remained there until his retirement in 2009. For many of the years in between, his after-school hours were spent coaching cross-country and track teams.
Winkler’s achievements as both an athlete and educator have not escaped the notice of the city where he grew up and still lives. As a senior in high school, Winkler received Channel 12’s first-ever Athlete of the Year award. The award continued to have meaning for Winkler, as he was asked to be its presenter from 1980 to 1997. Another noteworthy local acknowledgment came in 1981 when Winkler was inducted into the Palm Beach County Sports Hall of Fame.