Ronald J. Winter (born February 6, 1946) is a former American football official who officiated 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) from the

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

through

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

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 College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA). Winter wore uniform No. 14 (previously No. 82, 1995–1997). His 2013 NFL officiating crew consisted of umpire Carl Paganelli, 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 first 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 university, public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. B ...

Kalamazoo, Michigan Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 73,598. It is the principal city of the Kalamazoo–Portage metropolitan are ...

. 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, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

. His final game as a collegiate official was the

1995 Orange Bowl The 1995 Orange Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1995, as the 61st edition of the Orange Bowl and the national championship game for the 1994 season. It featured the Nebraska Cornhuskers of the Big Eight and the Miami ...

, when

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

defeated

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

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 an American former 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 sea ...

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 L. Hamer (September 12, 1937 – November 29, 2024) was an 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 ...

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 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 ...

and

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the 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 ...

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 an American former professional football guard who played his entire career with the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). Early life Born in Stratford, Wisconsin, Seubert atten ...

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 National Football League Commissioner, commissioner of the National Football League (NFL). He took the position in 1989 NFL season, 1989 and served until September ...

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 NFL officials Michigan State University alumni Western Michigan University faculty People from Kalkaska, Michigan Sportspeople from Kalamazoo, Michigan