Equipment guy to ball boy, Central to honor Wininger

By Steve Williams

David Wininger still remembers wanting to be a quarterback when he came to Central High School as a freshman in 1982.

It didn’t turn out that way, but Dave has become a quarterback’s best friend at CHS for 43 years as the Bobcats’ “ball boy.”

Now 58 years old, he’s still going strong in that position and looks back on his career with pride and the tradition he has maintained, which just happen to coincide with the school’s motto of “pride and tradition.”

Wininger will be honored for his longtime contributions to the football program this coming Friday night prior to Central’s home game against Maryville.

Dave said he likes the fact that this special game will be played against the Red Rebels from Blount County, one of the state’s top teams for many years. He knows it will be a tough battle, but he’ll do his job and hope the Bobcats do too.

“I wanted to play (on the football team) and my dad told me that there may be something better for you than doing that,” Wininger recently recalled. “And I said well okay, so I just took it at that. I’ll just go back and see if there was anything I can do for them on the sideline on Friday night.

“I started doing the equipment and stuff and was a water boy. I was holding the football for the field goal kickers in practice and getting to know the players and especially the quarterbacks.

“So I stuck with it from then on and hadn’t let go of it.”

Wininger said he started being a ball boy in the fall of 1988; the year Todd Helton was a freshman at Central.

“It was different than what I was doing and I had to have the officials tell me what they wanted done and I had to catch on, especially if it rained,” he said. “Rainy days were probably the hardest ones for keeping the footballs dry. But it turned out to be better than what I thought it would be.

“It was fun. Going to other schools and seeing other football players and stuff. I didn’t quit. I stuck with it and I really didn’t think that I would be doing it this long. Working this many ball games, you know, I’ve been blessed to be around it this long. And people have supported me through the years.”

Quarterbacks are not the only players that need the ball to be dry. You can put punters, kickers, centers and long snappers in that group, too.

“Since we’ve got turf, it’s not as bad,” said Dave. “I do it now with ease. It’s fun.”

Wininger, who also has been a custodian at Central for 33 years, said on home games he arrives at school before 3 o’clock and does some work before heading to the field to get everything ready before the kickoff.

“On the away games, I take off and leave straight from my house and go to the fieldhouse,” said Dave. “I ride the bus with the team everywhere we go and I’ve met a lot of head football coaches like that.”

Eddie Courtney, who stepped down as head coach at Farragut this year, became one of Wininger’s favorite coaches over the years.

“Courtney is a good one and I’ve met more than that,” said Dave. “They’ve been real supported of me … and they think it’s great that I’ve stuck with it this long.”

Wininger also mentioned former South-Doyle Coach Clark Duncan, Gary Shepherd and Kevin Julian when they were at Halls, and George Quarles when he was at Maryville.

“I’ve also got to know players from the opposite side and it’s just fun going to these away games where you get to see these other high schools that you’ve never seen before. And I’ve seen a lot of high schools that I didn’t even know existed in East Tennessee, and I’m like ‘golly bum,’ that was a big high school.”

Wininger also is well-known and respected by the officials.

“I’ll wave at them. And they’ll say: ‘Well, we don’t have to worry about the footballs tonight.’ I’ve got to know a lot of officials that way. It makes you feel you’re doing your job when they say, ‘Well, we don’t have to worry about that.’”

Wininger also commented on the young kids starting out as ball boys.

“They’ll throw footballs on the sideline and they’re not paying attention,” he pointed out. “And I say, you know, I take a job seriously, and when I have to do a job, I don’t play around with it.

“I’ve had some of (the young ones) on my sideline and they’ve asked me how long I’ve been doing it and I’ve told them. I had one little guy say: ‘You’ve been on the sideline that long!!!?’ And I answer yell. I started out doing just like what you’re doing right now. And they’re like, ‘Oh man that’s neat.’

“Each quarterback I’ve had here at Central has been different than most. They always say, ‘These are the two (footballs) that I want to use tonight Dave,’ and I say OK, I’ll take care of you. And usually I do.”

Ryan Bolton, Class of 2022, is one of the rare football players who played quarterback, punted and was a holder for the place-kickers in his career at Central.

“Working with Dave, you knew he was going to do his job,” said Ryan. “I was fortunate to work with him. He took great pride in his job and always made sure the footballs were in the condition I preferred.”

Wininger has worked under six head coaches at Central, starting with Harold Taylor his freshman year, and then Joel Helton, who was in charge of the Bobcats’ program for 27 years (1984-2010). Joe Haskell was head coach for three years after Helton.

Bryson Rosser took the reins in 2014 and guided the Bobcats to three straight state finals, including back-to-back Class 5A titles in 2018 and 2019.

Nick Craney was Central’s head coach the next four years and Kevin Lane came aboard this season.

During the lean years, “I was going to stick with the team,” said Wininger. “I wasn’t going to give up on them.”

Following the 2018 state championship, Coach Rosser presented Dave with a special token of appreciation.

“He had a replica gold ball made for me and give it to me at the football banquet that year,” said Dave. “I’ve got it in my house in my bedroom, so I’ve enjoyed that and then we went back-to-back the year after that.

“It has been a great ride doing this.”

The actual number of games Wininger has been a ball boy at Central is currently 430 (from the 1988 season until now). But if you include 36 jamboree games (1988-2024) and the 64 other Central games he “worked” from 1982-1987, his total is 530.

These numbers are special to Dave and Dave is special to Central High.