The ‘Happy Days’ Softball Team That Bonded the Cast On and Off Set for Over 40 Years
How the game helped Henry Winkler, Ron Howard and cast stay close off set—and raise money for charity
The idea of team-building was an important one to writer/producer Garry Marshall, who, in the 1970s, had produced the television version of Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple before creating one of the biggest phenomenons of that decade, Happy Days. It was Marshall’s idea, following a Hollywood and Broadway tradition, to unite the show’s ensemble of actors, among them Ron Howard as Richie Cunningham, Henry Winkler as Fonzie and Marion Ross as Marion Cunningham, by creating a softball team for them.
“I believe a family that plays together stays together,” Marshall mused to the media. “So I made us a team. We traveled, we laughed, we competed and it made the show better because we understood each other.”
Henry Winkler learned to pitch on set
“Garry always wanted to own a sports team, so he created the Happy Days softball team,” says Henry Winkler. “I have never been good at a sport because I don’t have good eye-hand coordination because I’m so dyslexic. And in between scenes, literally they taught me how to play and pitch, because they were all athletes. Clint Howard [Ron’s brother] was my catcher and would talk the ball into his mitt. He would literally tell me and show me where I had to pitch the ball.
“Now here’s the thing,” he continues with a laugh. “All I could do was pitch. I couldn’t catch. So, when the ball was hit to me, I turned my body and stopped the ball. I was black and blue on my left side for seven years.”
Anson Williams reflects on team spirit
Anson Williams, who plays Potsie Webber, shares, “Garry said, ‘You’ll always have the back of your teammate,’ and he really felt that playing ball, having these experiences around the world, would also come to the set. And it did. I think it’s a major reason we’re so close today. It really did have a huge effect on our friendship.”
How the team raised millions for charity
Formed during the early seasons of Happy Days, the softball team brought together cast, crew, writers and even members of Laverne & Shirley and Mork & Mindy. And as it turned out, they didn’t just play for fun: there would be over 100 charity games that raised millions of dollars for a variety of causes. These games, as it would turn out, were sometimes played in front of crowds of 10,000 to 15,000 and saw Team Happy Days playing against local police departments, radio station staff, minor league teams and more.
Adds Winkler, “We traveled America as a team and then for the USO we went to Japan and all through Germany for the American troops. So, we really became a team. Ron bought me my first mit that I ever owned in my life. And for my birthday, Anson got me my first bat.”
For his part, Ron Howard agrees that the team served as a great unifier for them all. “One time we were playing in Philadelphia before a Phillies game and it was packed. Usually we would play against radio disc jockeys and other game show celebrities, but this time they had athletes mixed in and Hal Greer, for example, the great basketball guard; other football players and things like that. I looked at this lineup and I thought, ‘We usually win these games, but I don’t know.’ I mentioned it to Clint and Clint just said, ‘Henry can get him out.’ Henry did and we won that game two-to-one.”
Garry Marshall’s vision for friendship and fun
Marshall took the team and their games seriously, frequently acting as player-manager. He would schedule games on weekends and during weeks when the show was on production hiatus, and he kept detailed stats. It was obvious to all that his competitive spirit was real, but so was his emphasis on camaraderie above all else.
“Softball was a tool,” he observed. “A tool to keep us sane, to remind us that no matter how crazy the business gets, we’re a team. And teams win together.”
He was obviously onto something there. Happy Days made its debut in 1974 and ran until 1984 for a total of 255 episodes. It remains beloved and viewed as one of the biggest hits in TV history, much of that due to that behind-the-scenes teamwork.
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