Frank Mitchell Winters (born January 23, 1964) is an American former professional

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 ...

player who was a center in the

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 ...

(NFL) for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

, New York Giants, Kansas City Chiefs, and the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

. He played

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 ...

for the Western Illinois Leathernecks.

Early life

Frank Mitchell Winters was born in

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub. As of the ...

. He lived in Union City, and played football at Emerson High School.

Career

Winters played

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

at Western Illinois University and was selected in the tenth round of the

1987 NFL draft The 1987 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 28–29, 1987, at the Marriot Ma ...

. Winters was the Packers' starting center serving for eight straight seasons (1993–2000). He played in the Pro Bowl and also earned USA Today All-Pro honors in 1999. His nickname was "Frankie Baggadonuts" or "Old Bag of Donuts". On July 18, 2008, Winters was inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame.

References

1964 births Living people Emerson High School (Union City, New Jersey) alumni Sportspeople from Hoboken, New Jersey Sportspeople from Union City, New Jersey Players of American football from Hudson County, New Jersey American football centers American football offensive guards Western Illinois Leathernecks football players Cleveland Browns players New York Giants players Kansas City Chiefs players Green Bay Packers players National Conference Pro Bowl players Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame 20th-century American sportsmen {{offensive-lineman-1960s-stub