1975 Profile: Charley Winner

Head Coach
"Charley Winner, the head coach of the New York Jets, is an energetic man who has spent the past 21 years of his life coaching pro football. The 48-year-old Winner is entering his second season as head coach after spending 1973 as an assistant.
Winner, formerly the head coach of the St. Louis Cardinals, has an association with the National Football League which dates back to 1954 when he went to Baltimore as an assistant coach under Weeb Ewbank. In the course of 12 years with the Colts, Winner was in charge of the ends, the defensive backs, the linebackers and eventually took over the entire defense as head coordinator. He was the head defensive coach when the Colts annexed a pair of NFL crowns in 1958 and 1959, and when the team won or shared the Western title in 1964 and 1965.
In 1966 Winner accepted the head coaching position of the St. Louis Cardinals, a post he held for five years. During his time there he guided the Cards to a 35-30-5 record, the best mark in Cardinal annals. Under his leadership the Cards set a team record for fewest rushing yards allowed in a season in 1966. In 1970, the Cards defense put together a string of three straight shutouts. His Cards were in playoff contention that year right until the end and finished with an 8-5-1 record after being 4-9-1 in 1969. Winner moved on to the Washington Redskins as coach of the defensive backs in 1971 and helped propel the Redskins into the playoffs and Super Bowl.
Winner has also been associated with Ewbank throughout his life. He has played and coached under Ewbank, and on the personal side, he married Ewbank's daughter, Nancy, on June 23, 1950.
Winner's coaching career began as an assistant under Weeb at Washington University in St. Louis in 1948. Winner stayed there two years (only one under Ewbank) before heading for Case Tech where he served under Lou Saban. He was reunited with his father-in-law in 1954 at Baltimore and remained there after Ewbank left in 1963.
'I decided to stay at Baltimore,' he recalls, 'because I felt it was time to strike out on my own, rather than continue to be associated with Weeb forever, though he and I had a fine working relationship.'
A native of Somerville, New Jersey, Winner was born either on July 2 or July 3, 1925, depending on whether you read the birth certificate or listen to his mother. 'My birth certificate says July 3,' says Winner, 'but my mother always said I was born on July 2, so I celebrate both of them.'
He was a fine high school halfback but too small for major college notice. With the help of a high school friend who was enrolled there, Winner was offered a scholarship at Southest Missouri State College in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
Winner made the freshman squad in 1941, but was drafted into the Army in the spring of 1942. He became a radio operator and gunner in the Air Force, flew 17 missions over Germany and was shot down in the spring of 1945, spending six weeks in a prisoner of war camp before the war ended.
Returning to his education, he enrolled at Washington University where he earned a pair of letters as a halfback and three as a sprinter and also his wife. He received his B.S. degree in 1949.
Winner and his wife have two daughters, Cinda and Lisa."

-The New York Jets Official 1975 Yearbook