Background
Winner was born in Somerville, New Jersey and, during World World War II, flew 17 missions in a B-17 Flying Fortress plane, spending six weeks in a German prisoner of war camp.
Winner was born in Somerville, New Jersey and, during World World War II, flew 17 missions in a B-17 Flying Fortress plane, spending six weeks in a German prisoner of war camp.
Upon his release from the service he played running back at Washington University in Saint Louis, where Ewbank was head coach. After Ewbank moved on to coach for the Cleveland Browns, Winner took an assistant position with nearby Case Technical and also served as a scout for the Browns. In 1966 the Cardinals started out 5-0 but lost four of their last five games to finish at 8-5-1 and in fourth place in the NFL East.
In 1968 Saint Louis finished one-half game behind the Cleveland Browns (9-4-1 to 10-4) in the NFL Century Division despite sweeping both regular-season meetings with the Browns.
In 1970 Saint Louis rolled to an 8-2-1 record at the end of November, including three consecutive shutouts over the Houston Oilers (44-0), Boston Patriots (31-0) and Dallas Cowboys (38-0 on Monday Night Football in Dallas). With the NFC East championship in sight, however, the Cardinals stumbled in December, losing to the Detroit Lions, New York Giants and Washington Redskins to finish at 8-5-1 and in third place in the division behind Dallas and the Giants.
On February 1, 1973 he rejoined Ewbank as an assistant with the Jets and was also designated his successor following the end of the 1973 NFL season. He spent two years in that role before shifting to pro personnel, performing many of the same duties as a general manager, especially negotiating player contracts.
On June 1, 1992, he announced his retirement.