WINONA LAKE- Many remember Henry Winkler as Fonzi in the show “Happy Days” riding on a motorcycle with slicked-back hair, blue jeans and a leather jacket. However, the former “Happy Day” actor wore a grey suit, green tie and dress shoes Friday and spoke about a serious topic, overcoming obstacles with his battle with dyslexia. Winkler, 67, who played the role of “Fonzi” in the 1970’s sitcom, served as the keynote speaker Friday at the Orthopaedic Capital Center in Winona Lake for Transition Exploration Day. The event was for area high school students with disabilities who visited Grace College to learn about career options. The event was sponsored by the Council for Exceptional Children student chapter. There were 100 students with individual education plans from Warsaw Community High School, as well as Bremen and Whitko high schools and students from Eisenhower Elementary school who attended. The topic of disabilities has been of importance to Winkler, who was diagnosed with dyslexia at age 31. Winkler said he was diagnosed with dyslexia when he and his wife, Stacey, took Jed, her son from a previous marriage, to be tested for dyslexia. The family had taken a trip with their son who was in third grade at the time to visit the Hopi Nation in Arizona. Jed had difficulty writing a report on the visit, and could verbally talk about the trip, but could not write about the experience. Recognizing Jed’s symptoms in himself, Winkler chose to take the written and verbal test that is used to diagnose the condition. Winkler’s two children, Zoe and Max, also are dyslexic. Jed also was diagnosed with dyslexia. “I found out I was not lazy or stupid, but found out I had something with a name, dyslexia,” Winkler said. He said he spent time trying to figure out school, why he couldn’t figure things out and covering his shame and humiliation with comedy. “Spelling was hard, reading, math, science and history was hard, but I was great at lunch,” Winkler joked. The principal of his high school asked him why he was not achieving, and Winkler told him that he did not know either. Winkler said he went to a drugstore called “Peggy’s” at the end of his block where he lived in New York and he purchased highlighters. “I went home and highlighted my books, but the words were still Greek to me and I had no idea what I was reading whether it was highlighted in blue, pink or yellow,” Winkler said. Winkler said he applied to 28 universities and received only two offers, one from Park University in Missouri, and another one from Emerson College in Boston, which he accepted to study fine arts. In his senior year at Emerson College he applied to the Yale School of Drama and got a call asking if he would like to attend the drama school. He said he was one of three people who were asked to attend the drama school. He said his parents, who came from Germany, were not fond of him attending drama school. His father imported and exported wood, and wanted him to work in that business. “My father wanted me to import and export wood and not be an actor, but I had wanted to be an actor since I was 7,” Winkler said. Winkler said his father spoke 11 languages, but he himself had trouble speaking English with his battle with dyslexia. He said his parents used to call him “Dumb Dog” because he had trouble with reading and writing. “I did not read a book until I was 31 because I was intimidated by the words inside the covers,” Winkler said. “Every student I knew wrote in the margins of the books they were supposed to read, but I didn’t know what to write so I took water and poured it over the book so it crinkled up so when I carried the book it looked like I was using it.” He later went on to Yale School of Drama, and received his master’s degree in fine arts. He then went to New York City and tried out for commercials, movies, and television shows. He said he made enough money doing commercials to take a plane to California and on Sept. 18, 1973, he landed in Hollywood. He auditioned for the Mary Tyler Moore Show, and got a job on the show. Winkler spoke of his experience on “Happy Days.” He said he called his parents to tell them that he thought his career was starting and was asked to be in the “Happy Days” series. He said his parents were not supportive. He said since he had dyslexia he would get his scripts way ahead of time, and read the lines word by word until he could say his lines. “I got a lot of fan mail, 50,000 letters a week delivered to my apartment and all that was in my apartment was a couch and boxes of fan letters,” Winkler said. He said it was scary to leave his apartment when he was on the “Happy Days” show because people wanted his socks as souvenirs. He said girls sent him jewelry and bears in the mail and a metal cutting that said “If You Will It, It’s Not A Dream.” “I had no idea how important that phrase was before I had it hanging on my wall,” Winkler said. He said he was a negative thinker in his love and career life, but wanted to beat the system and not be a negative thinker. “I learned from a philosopher when negative thoughts came into my head to say aloud I’m sorry I have no time for you,” Winkler said. Winkler said “The Fonz” got to be very popular, and all of a sudden his parents became their “own producers” of Fonzi. “I met people all over the world who said I have your parents autograph,” Winkler said. Winkler said he didn’t need his parents support then, but needed it at the beginning when he had learning and reading difficulties and when he had no sense of self. After he acted in “Happy Days” he wrote 22 children’s books, the Hank Zipzer series, that were inspired by his own struggle with education due to learning challenges. Zipzer is a 10-year-old character who suffers from dyslexia. “I took the emotion from my life and wrote it into the books,” Winkler said. He said people’s jobs are to figure out their gifts and give them to the world. Winkler gave advice and said make the most of yourself or your life will be unfulfilled and help others. Winkler is in a movie coming out Oct. 12 titled “Here Comes The Boom.” Production begins late this month.
