Sept. 8, 2000
Winkle Signs Pro-Basketball Contract
GRAND RAPIDS, MI - After months of waiting, Aaron Winkle will get the
opportunity to play professional basketball.
The 2000 NCAA Division III Player of the Year in men's basketball,
Winkle will play for a team located in the French city of Au'tun.
Winkle's team competes at the Division I level - the third-highest
professional basketball league in France.
Winkle will be replacing an injured player over the next four weeks
with the hopes of signing a year-long contract at the conclusion of the
month. A native of Lake City and a graduate of Northern Michigan McBain
Christian High School, Winkle will arrive in time for his team's first
regular season game Saturday night.
"I'm replacing an injured player so there are no guarantees but it's an
opportunity I've looking forward to," said Winkle. "I've got four games
to show that I should stay and I feel ready for the challenge."
The professional basketball opportunity culminates a hectic summer for
Winkle as he recently married longtime sweetheart Betsy Huizingh. "I've
been looking to sign with a team for the last two months and my wife and
I have been trying to make some plans but nothing had really worked out
until now," he said.
"We both have a sense of excitement. After a long time of uncertainty,
it's nice to know that something is going to happen."
This past year, Winkle helped lead Calvin to the NCAA Division III
National Championship. On the year, Winkle averaged 17.4 points, 7.5
rebounds and 3.3 assists-per-game while hitting 78.9 percent of his free
throw attempts; 39.0 percent of three-point attempts and 46.8 percent of
his field goal attempts. In five NCAA III Tournament games, Winkle rose
to the occasion, averaging 19.6 points and 8.8 rebounds a game while
connecting on 88.0 percent (22-of-25) of his free throw attempts; 55.6
percent (10-of-18) of his three-point attempts and 46.5 percent
(33-of-71) of his field goal attempts. He was then named a first team
All-American and Division III Player of the Year by the National
Association of Basketball Coaches.
A six-time MIAA Player of the Week, Winkle was also named the MIAA's
MVP for a second straight year and was voted to the All-MIAA first team
for the third straight year. He finished out his career fourth on the
all-time Calvin scoring list with 1,802 career points. He also grabbed
783 career rebounds, becoming one of just seven players in Calvin
history to score more than 1,000 points and grab more than 500 rebounds.
Winkle scored 30 points or more six times in his career and tallied 28
career double-doubles.
Winkle is the eighth player in Calvin men's basketball history to sign
a professional basketball contract overseas; joining Mark Veenstra
(1977, Germany); Steve Honderd (1993, Spain, France); Chris Knoester
(1994, Malta); Darrell Van Laare (1995, Australia, France); Russ Iwema
(1999, France); Scott Plaisier (1999, Holland) and Ebong Eka (1999,
Switzerland). There are several shared traits between the group of
eight Calvin players to have signed pro contracts as Eka and Van Laare
are natives of Toronto; Veenstra and Plaisier graduates of Hudsonville
Unity Christian High School and Honderd, Knoester and Iwema graduates of
Grand Rapids Christian High School. The one common trait however is
that all eight individuals earned Calvin diplomas. Winkle was graduated
this past May with a degree in business administration, earning second
team GTE Academic All-America honors as both a junior and senior.
In 77 years of play, the Calvin men's basketball program has produced a
won-loss record of 1062-530 for a winning percentage of 66.7 percent
that ranks among the top-10 schools in Division III men's basketball in
terms of winning percentage. The program has also produced six
All-Americans; three GTE Academic All-Americans and one NCAA III
Postgraduate Scholar. In addition, it has earned 12 NCAA III Tournament
appearances, three Final Four berths and a pair of national
championships.
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