Loras College Athletics

The Cy Young award was first awarded in the summer of 1956. That’s about the time Dick Winter was coming into his own for the Loras College Duhawks.

Winter averaged about 15 innings of work over his first two seasons on the mound for Loras. By his junior season that was up to 30 behind ace and Loras Hall of Fame teammate Art Huinker.

Then, in his role as the ace of the staff in 1958 it was a team high 65 innings. During those 126 total innings he allowed just 91 hits and struck out 136, more than one batter per inning.

That’s a healthy 15.1 strikeouts per nine innings pitched for the History and Education major.

Winter especially liked to pitch against Beloit, Winona State, and Quincy, who accounted for nine of his 17 wins over the course of his career. The righty was only the pitcher of record in a loss in just one start, a 9-8 game that came down to the final inning his senior season. The teams Winter played on were pretty good, too. They never lost more than four games in a season and went 49-12 during his career (.803).

Winter and his wife Shirley reside in Papillion, Nebraska and are the proud parents of three children. 

Stories

Many days in the spring it was very cold. Batting practice was not so comfortable. It was especially brutal when Dick Winter was throwing knuckleballs. Getting hit with one was bad enough, but when Dick would chuckle and smile it would hurt twice as much. But it was okay and still fun because Dick was a tough free spirit and a great teammate. 

This same tough Dick Winter was only beaten one time in his college career. A very good pitcher! It was an honor to play with him.

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The baseball team always had a “track team” in the intramural track meet at the end of the school year. Now the same Dick Winter mentioned above always to have fun. Several days before the track meet he jumped off a bench in the locker room and ran a nail into the ball of his foot. No trouble, he ran the hurdles in the intramural track meet. OUCH!  When the going gets tough, the tough get going. A great friend of mine to this day!