BASEBALL
INCREDIBLE JOURNEY What Winter accomplished in his sports field management journey has been incredible, but his path to get there is just as amazing.
Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, Winter attended Adrian College, where he played basketball and baseball. He then went on to graduate school at Ohio State University, as he pursued a career in journalism with a goal of working in baseball.
For the next 25 years Winter worked as a professional broadcaster for a cable television station in Columbus, while he and his wife, Kathy, raised their three sons. But in the process of raising those sons— all of whom played baseball into college— Winter coached them and took care of the fields on which they played.
“ The more I took care of their fields, the more I was interested in it,” he said.“ I became really passionate about learning more and doing more.”
In addition to managing the fields on which his sons played, from the late 1980s through the 1990s Winter was part of a group that took care of Lou Berliner Sports Park, a softball and baseball complex in Columbus.
“ Over the course of my broadcasting career, I was always working on a field somewhere,” he said.“ When my youngest son got out of high school and the reality of the empty nest was coming, I thought maybe I should try doing this professionally— much to my late wife’ s chagrin at the time. I went up to Midland( Mich.) to work for the Great Lakes Loons to open Dow Diamond.
“ I think I was incredibly qualified because I had done a lot of research, and I had 15 years of experience working on diamonds,” Winter added.“ The head groundskeeper there at the time was thrilled to have me. He left after a year, and I moved into the role of head groundskeeper. I was 50 years old at the time. I was a mature man having raised a family. So I think I was qualified and equipped to take on that responsibility.”
Winter spent three years in Midland with the Loons, and the past 16 years in Fort Wayne.
“ My wife called getting into professional baseball my midlife crisis,” said Winter.“ But I think when you do that for 19 years, it becomes
more than a midlife crisis. It became my interest and passion. I’ m very blessed by the opportunity to do that for such a long time.”
According to Winter, getting into the sports field management industry later in life was extremely beneficial to his career.
“ As empty nesters, my kids were grown; so I had the luxury of devoting all of my energy, all of my passion, all of my experience into that,” he said.“ I think part of why I was successful is because I entirely devoted my working life to that, knowing that baseball is a real grind, but it’ s only a 5-month-long season. So I was willing to pay the price to grind for five months knowing that I had a seven month offseason where I had a lot of freedom, time to travel, time to spend with my wife and be together.” sportsfieldmanagementonline. com November 2025 | SportsField Management
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