Charley Winner Charley Winner ( born July 2 , 1924 ) was a football coach whose professional and personal life was closely intertwined with that of Weeb Ewbank , another coach . Winner was born in Somerville , New Jersey , and during World War II flew 17 missions in a B - 17 Flying Fortress plane , spending six weeks in a German prisoner of war camp . Upon his release from the service , he played running back at Washington University in St . Louis , where Ewbank was head coach . After Ewbank moved on to coach for the Cleveland Browns , Winner took an assistant position with nearby Case Tech , and also served as a scout for the Browns . In 1950 , he also married Ewbank ' s daughter . When Ewbank was hired as head coach of the Baltimore Colts in 1954 , Winner went along and helped the team capture NFL titles in both 1958 and 1959 . At the conclusion of the 1962 NFL season , Ewbank was dismissed , but Winner stayed under new coach Don Shula from 1963 to 1965 . On February 10 , 1966 , Winner was hired as head coach of the St . Louis Cardinals . In five seasons at the helm , Winner managed a 35 - 30 - 5 record , but after failing to reach the postseason , was fired on January 6 , 1971 . The Cardinals posted winning records in three of Winner ' s five seasons with the Cardinals , but fell achingly short of the playoffs each time . In 1966 , the Cardinals started out 5 - 0 but lost four of their last five games to finish at 8 - 5 - 1 and in fourth place in the NFL East . In 1968 , St . Louis finished one - half game behind the Cleveland Browns ( 9 - 4 - 1 to 10 - 4 ) in the NFL Century Division despite sweeping both regular - season meetings with the Browns . In 1970 , St . Louis rolled to an 8 - 2 - 1 record at the end of November , including three consecutive shutouts over the Houston Oilers ( 44 - 0 ) , Boston Patriots ( 31 - 0 ) and Dallas Cowboys ( 38 - 0 on Monday Night Football in Dallas ) . But with the NFC East championship in sight , the Cardinals stumbled in December , losing to the Detroit Lions , New York Giants and Washington Redskins to finish at 8 - 5 - 1 and in third place in the division behind Dallas and the Giants . Winner wasn ' t out of work long , as he was soon hired by George Allen of the Washington Redskins . Winner worked two years for the Redskins , helping them reach the NFL playoffs during each season and their first Super Bowl berth ever in 1972 . On February 1 , 1973 , he rejoined Ewbank as an assistant with the Jets and was also designated his successor following the end of the 1973 NFL season . Winner struggled to achieve success with the Jets , finishing 7 - 7 in 1974 , needing to win the season ' s final six games to reach the . 500 mark . The following year saw the team win only two of the first nine games , a decline that resulted in his dismissal on November 19 , three days after a 52 - 19 loss to the Colts . Two months later , Winner was hired as an assistant with the Cincinnati Bengals , spending the next four years with the team before once again being fired following the 1979 NFL season . Renewing acquaintances with Don Shula in 1981 , Winner was hired to serve as player personnel director for the Miami Dolphins . He spent two years in that role before shifting to pro personnel , performing many of the same duties as a general manager , especially negotiating player contracts . On June 1 , 1992 , he announced his retirement .