Dean Wink


Dean Albert Wink is an American politician and former football player who played parts of three seasons in the National Football League with the Philadelphia Eagles from 1966 to 1968. A Republican, he represented District 29 in the South Dakota House of Representatives from 2009 to 2016. Wink was the Speaker pro tempore of the House from January 11, 2011 to January 10, 2015 and the Speaker of the House from January 10, 2015 to January 10, 2017.

Career

Wink signed as an undrafted free agent with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1966 and made the team as a taxi squad player. He was called up to the active roster on November 10, 1967, and started his only game the next year. In the offseason, Wink received his master's degree in education. He was waived on July 15, 1969.

Life after football

After retiring from football, Wink returned to Yankton College, then moved to Arizona, where he became a rancher, before working for a Texas cattle company. Wink and his wife Joan, whom he had married in 1966, returned to South Dakota in 1988. That year they bought a ranch in Meade County, and moved to it full-time in 1994. Ten years later, Joan retired from the faculty of California State University.

Elections