Shinners grew up in Hartford, Wisconsin, one of five children of John, a newspaper publisher and owner, and Leocadia Shinners. He played college football at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. The 6-foot-3, 245-pound offensive guard earned All-America honors from The Sporting News as a senior in 1968, becoming Xavier's first and only football All-American. He earned a degree in liberal arts. As a Musketeer, Shinners and his teammates compiled a 25-14-1 record in four seasons: 8-2 in 1965, 5-5 in 1966, 6-3-1 in 1967 and 6-4 in 1968. Xavier took three of four victories from local rival University of Cincinnati during the four-year stretch.
Professional career
Shinners was selected in the first round of the 1969 AFL-NFL Common Draft by the New Orleans Saints, where he spent three seasons. He played only two games in his rookie year, then nine in 1970, and finally in 1971 he saw action in all 14 Saints games. He started off 1972 with the Baltimore Colts. On October 24, 1972, the Colts traded him mid-season to the Cincinnati Bengals for a 1973 fourth-round draft pick. It was for the Bengals that he came into his own. In 1973, he played in all 14 games, and by 1974 he was a starter, starting 10 of 13 games he played. In 1975, he again played in all 14 games, starting four. He was again a full-time starter in 1976, starting all 13 games he played. His final year was 1977, when he started five of his 12 games played. He was with the Bengals through his final season as a pro, 1977. He played 97 games during his nine-year NFL career.
After football
Shinners followed in the footsteps of his father, a former minor league baseball player who founded the Hartford Times-Press in 1933. In 1954, his father became the co-owner of the Menomonee Falls News in Wisconsin, and in 1969 he bought several weekly newspapers in the Milwaukee area. His father died in 1982 at age 74. John Shinners eventually became president of Shinners Publications before selling the company in 1997. He now lives in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. He works as a business consultant and does work with a local radio station. In 1996, he was inducted into the Xavier University Athletic Hall of Fame, and he is a member of the university's Legion of Honor. Shinners' youngest daughter, Rebecca, graduated from Xavier in 1997.
