Ronald J. Winter (born February 6, 1946) is a retired

American football official In gridiron football, an official is a person who has responsibility in enforcing the rules and maintaining the order of the game. During professional and most college football games, seven officials operate on the field. Since 2015, Division ...

who officiated in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) from the

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

through

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

seasons. Winter previously served as a football official for the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA). Winter wore uniform No. 14 (previously No. 82, 1995–1997). His 2013 NFL officiating crew consisted of umpire

Carl Paganelli Carl Paganelli (born April 14, 1960) is an American football official in the National Football League (NFL) since the 1999 NFL season, who wears uniform number 124. As an umpire, Paganelli is notable for working two Super Bowls, Super Bowl XXXIX ...

, head linesman Jim Howey, line judge Gary Arthur, field judge Scott Steenson, side judge Tom Hill, and back judge Greg Steed. He was the alternate referee for

Super Bowl XLIII Super Bowl XLIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champions Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champions Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...

. Winter was one of the first NFL referees to wear eyeglasses on the field. Fred Silva was the 1st wearing glasses in 1988.

Personal

Winter was a physical education professor at

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the training of teachers ...

in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He retired at the end of the 2007–08 school year after having served for more than 38 years.

Officiating career

College career

Winter was a referee in the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

. His final game as a collegiate official was the 1995 Orange Bowl, when

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

defeated

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

24–17 concluding a 13–0 season and winning a national championship. It was the first national championship for Cornhuskers coach

Tom Osborne Thomas William Osborne (born February 23, 1937) is a former American football player, coach, college athletics administrator, and politician from Nebraska. He served as head football coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers from 1973 to 1997 (25 season ...

after 22 seasons as the coach.

NFL career

He entered the NFL as a line judge in 1995, and later was promoted to referee in 1998 after

Dale Hamer Dale Hamer (born 1937) is a former American football official in the National Football League (NFL) who served from 1978 to 2001, with a break taken for health reasons during the 1995 season. During his 23 seasons in the NFL, Hamer was assigned t ...

returned to the head linesman position and Gary Lane returned to the side judge position. In his first playoff assignment as a referee, Winter refereed the New York Giants and

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

Wild Card playoff game in January 2003. During the game back judge Scott Green did not realize that New York's

Rich Seubert Richard Thomas Seubert (; born March 30, 1979) is a former American football guard who played his entire career with the New York Giants of the National Football League. High school career Born in Stratford, Wisconsin, Seubert attended Columbus ...

had lined up legally in a receiver's spot and failed to call a defensive pass interference foul against him during a failed field goal attempt, instead penalizing him for ineligible receiver downfield. Commissioner

Paul Tagliabue Paul John Tagliabue (; born November 24, 1940) is an American lawyer who was the commissioner of the National Football League (NFL). He took the position in 1989 and served until September 1, 2006. He had previously served as a lawyer for the NFL ...

described the situation as the most disappointing officiating blunder he had seen in his years as NFL commissioner and announced there would be changes in the officiating of field goal attempts and during the last plays of games.

Retirement

Winter announced his retirement on April 3, 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winter, Ron 1946 births Living people National Football League officials Michigan State University alumni Western Michigan University faculty People from Kalkaska, Michigan Sportspeople from Kalamazoo, Michigan