Doug Winkler

Doug Winkler | B.B.A. '80

He literally had the keys to the building. Mr. Winkler enrolled as a freshman the year the Smith Center opened and was a student manager for men's basketball from 1975-79. He has spent at least one day in the Smith Center in every year since it was built.

"The court back then was rubber, not wood. Less maintenance for facilities, more maintenance for the knees. My father was a professor at GW and encouraged me to go to GW because of the tuition benefit. I had managed basketball at W.T. Woodson High School in Fairfax for Coach Red Jenkins. Red said he had a GW affiliation and asked if I would like to talk to Bob Tallent about managing for him. So, I met with Coach Tallent, and there was scholarship money there. He had two managers and one scholarship, and he said he was going to split it. So, between that and the tuition benefit my father had, I had a four-year full ride. What a great deal."