Charles Winters (born February 7, 1974) is a former

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL)

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

and

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

who played for the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Argonauts compete in the East Division (CFL), East Division of t ...

Early life

Winters grew up in the tough

Herman Gardens Herman Gardens was a public housing project located on the westside of Detroit, Michigan. History Built in 1943, Herman Gardens, known locally as "the Gardens", had 2,144 units primarily within two-story multi-family buildings. The 129-unit Garde ...

project of

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

. When he was in middle school, gang violence began permeating the projects. For many, adolescence is one's search for acceptance. Like his head coach and many of his teammates, Winters sought acceptance in organized sports such as

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

rather than joining violent street

gangs A gang is a group or society of associates, friends, or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collecti ...

. Although he escaped the vicious cycle of violence himself, his 19-year-old brother Malik was murdered in a

drive-by shooting A drive-by shooting is a type of assault that usually involves the perpetrator(s) firing a weapon from within a motor vehicle and then fleeing. Drive-by shootings allow the perpetrators to quickly strike their targets and flee the scene before l ...

in 1998. Winters hails from

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

's St. Martin de Porres High School (closed 2005) where he won the MHSAA State Class C Football Title twice. While at St. Martin de Porres, Winters was an All-American in two sports football and baseball. Also, Winters was drafted in the tenth round in the 1992 amateur baseball draft by the Kansas City Royals. SMDP is the same school that produced fellow CFL player Kevin Glenn and former

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

player Troy Kyles of the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

College career

During his

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

years, Winters was a standout player at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

from 1992-1996 in football and baseball. At the end of his college career he was drafted once again in the twentieth round by the Kansas City Royals. After leaving the game of football for a brief period of time, he spent several years playing in the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

, with the

Detroit Fury The Detroit Fury were an arena football team based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. They were a member of the original Arena Football League from 2001 to 2004 and played at The Palace of Auburn Hills, also the home of the NBA's Detroit Pistons. The ...

and the Las Vegas Gladiators.

Professional career

Winters retired from the

on December 19, 2008, after six years as a linebacker and defensive back. During his time with the Argonauts, he appeared in 82 regular-season games and eight playoff contests and was a member of the Argonauts' 2004

Grey Cup The Grey Cup () is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested between the winners ...

-winning team. In the 2007 season, he posted a career-high 38 tackles and led the team with six forced fumbles.

Coaching career

Winters spent the 2016 season with the

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home game ...

as a defensive and special teams assistant. He was hired back by the team six years later to serve as their strength and conditioning coach in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

References

External links

Arena Football page

Toronto Star article on Chuck Winters

Last Play Training
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Winters, Chuck 1974 births Living people Saint Martin de Porres High School (Detroit) alumni Players of American football from Detroit American emigrants to Canada American football linebackers Canadian football linebackers Michigan Wolverines football players Detroit Fury players Las Vegas Gladiators players Toronto Argonauts players Hamilton Tiger-Cats coaches Players of Canadian football from Detroit