William Winneberger Sr., 89, champion gymnast at Temple

When William A. Winneberger Sr. was the swimming coach for Springfield, Montgomery County, High School in the early 1970s, the competition reached right onto the family kitchen table.

"I swam for Cheltenham High School," son William Jr. recalled.

"And in the morning, when he got up on the day of the swim meet" each year between Cheltenham and Springfield, "he would say, 'I'm going to beat you this afternoon.' " And he did.

Mr. Winneberger was not gloating, his son said. "It was a statement of fact."

After all, the coach had been winning since he was a teenager and had earned a full gymnastics scholarship to Temple University.

On Tuesday, Feb. 10, Mr. Winneberger, 89, captain of the 1948-49 Temple University men's gymnastics team that won the 1949 National Collegiate Gymnastics title in San Francisco, died of respiratory failure at the Shores at Wesley Manor, an assisted-living community in Ocean City, N.J.

The 1949 team, which beat out teams from Army and Penn State, his son said, was inducted into the Temple University Hall of Fame in 2008.

"He competed in the parallel bars and the flying rings," his son said, and won third place in flying rings in the previous, 1948, national finals.

Winning mattered to Mr. Winneberger even beyond sports.

Tom Scott, a family friend, recalled that one summer when he was visiting at the Jersey Shore, Mr. Winneberger gave him advice that reached beyond casino betting.

"He taught me that a lot of people will put a limit on how much they're going to lose," Scott said, "but he put a limit on how much he was going to win - which is very hard to do."

Scott recalled that Mr. Winneberger limited his losses to $100 a night, and limited his nightly wins to $300.

That summer, Mr. Winneberger took his nightly, and successful, trips to the casinos seriously enough, Scott said, that as he walked away from his house he would say, "I'll see you; I'm going to work."

Mr. Winneberger grew up in the Logan neighborhood of Philadelphia, graduated from Germantown High School, and was training to be an Army Air Corps pilot when World War II ended and he was discharged.

He earned a bachelor's at Temple in 1949 and later a master's in education at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Winneberger taught science at what is now Beverly Hills Middle School in Upper Darby from 1954 to 1962 and taught drafting, math, and shop at Springfield High until he retired in 1986, his son said.

For a time at Springfield, he coached both the gymnastics and swimming teams and was the aquatics director for the School District of Springfield Township.During much of his coaching and teaching career, Mr. Winneberger also maintained a private practice as a physical therapist and during summers from the 1950s to the 1980s, he worked at the former Germantown Hospital and then at Moss Rehab.

Besides son William Jr., Mr. Winneberger is survived by Nancy, his wife of 64 years; sons Scott and Tedd; daughter Gail Ping; a sister; 14 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

A visitation was set from 10 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 17, at the Godfrey Funeral Home, 644 South Shore Rd., Palermo, N.J., before an 11 a.m. funeral there, with interment in West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd.

Donations may be sent to the www.alz.org/donate.

Condolences may be offered to the family at www.godfreyfuneralhome.com.