Husson College baseball coach John Winkin has long since joined an exclusive fraternity as a member of several halls of fame, but his career became even more rarified Sunday.

The 86-year-old Winkin became the 44th collegiate baseball coach to reach the career 1,000-victory mark.

Winkin won his 1,000th with Husson’s 6-3 victory over Drew University.

“I’m glad I can say most of these wins were with the state of Maine and most with Maine kids, so you can say this is what the state of Maine has done, and I like that,” said Winkin. “I take great pride in that.”

The Husson Eagles gave Winkin his 1,001st win Monday with their fourth straight of the current Florida spring trip in which they are 6-3 overall.

Winkin said he didn’t remember any of his other milestone wins, such as his 100th or 500th, with any particular striking clarity.

“Not really. I think I will always remember this one, though,” he said. “The team took me out to dinner last night and gave me a bat each of the kids signed. It was one of the nicest shows of respect I’ve ever had.”

His lifetime coaching record is now 1,001-669-8 over 44 season, according to Husson College officials. His career began at Colby College in Waterville, where he went 301-202-5 in 20 years. He then moved on to the University of Maine and went 642-430-3 while leading the Black Bears to six College World Series appearances and two third-place CWS finishes in 22 seasons. Since taking over for John Kolasinski at Husson, Winkin is 58-35 with the Eagles.

“I think my first win was on the first spring trip we took at Colby and I believe it was against Towson,” Winkin said. “The most thrilling ones were the regional ones at Orono that sent us on to Omaha.”

Ah yes, UMaine baseball’s golden age, when the Bears went to the CWS five times in six years (1981-84 and 1986).

“The ones that meant the most to me were the ones that got us to the World Series and the ones we won in the [1982] World Series, especially the back-to-back wins against Stanford and Cal State-Fullerton with [pitchers] Billy Swift and then Joe Johnson the next day,” Winkin recalled. “That game against Fullerton, the top team in the country at that time, might have been the best game that any of my teams ever played.”

Winkin said beating Miami on ESPN-TV in Orono when it was a national collegiate game of the week was another big one.

One of Winkin’s former players, who went on to become a very successful coach in his own right, knows better than anyone the significance of reaching the 1,000-win mark.

“I think it’s a great thing. It definitely shows how long something like that takes,” said University of Southern Maine head coach Ed Flaherty, who notched his 500th win in 2002. “He may not admit it, but I think that’s something he’s striven for.”

Flaherty and Winkin are members of the American Baseball Coaches Association, Maine Baseball, and University of Maine halls of fame. Flaherty has guided his Huskies to 16 ECAC or NCAA tournament appearances in his 21 seasons at USM. He has won two NCAA Division III national titles and four NCAA regional titles in that same span.

Even with all that success – Flaherty’s teams have never finished with fewer than 22 victories in a season – Flaherty’s own career record stands at 594-255-3.

“Getting a thousand up here is tough indeed,” said Flaherty. “I know when I was at Maine, we only played something like 30 games a season at one point.”

“Most Division I college coaches play 40 or 50 games in a season now,” said Winkin. “When I was at Colby, I won 300 games in 20 years and then won twice that many in virtually the same time period at Maine because we played more games.”

Winkin received a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and completed his master’s and doctorate degrees at Columbia University. He also served as lieutenant commander in the Navy from 1941-1946.

After serving in the Navy, Winkin was a founding editor of Sport Magazine and then became a television broadcaster for the New York Yankees. He and broadcast partner Mel Allen were the first broadcast team for the Yankees. He has written and published four books and is a contributing columnist to Collegiate Baseball. Currently, Winkin serves as vice president for sports leadership at Husson.

Winkin received the American Baseball Coaches’ Lefty Gomez Award for contributions to collegiate baseball and was also honored with the ECAC Distinguished Achievement Award. He has served as president of the American Association of Collegiate Baseball Coaches and is a member of seven halls of fame.

“I guess I’d have to be honest and say it probably would have meant that much more to me 10 years ago because there weren’t so many to have reached it,” said Winkin. “But I am very grateful to Husson for giving me this chance to come back and do this.

“When I lost the job at Maine, I didn’t know whether I’d ever get the chance to get that milestone. I thought I was good enough to reach it. I just needed the opportunity and that’s why I can’t thank Husson enough to make it possible.”