Packers Legend Diagnosed With Dementia at 62 — Can’t Speak, But Still Remembers Playing for Green Bay
August 29, 2025 — Green Bay, WI — The Packers family is grieving after heartbreaking news about one of its most beloved figures. Frank Winters, the longtime center who anchored Green Bay’s offensive line during the 1990s, has been diagnosed with dementia at just 62 years old.
Winters, a cornerstone of the franchise’s Super Bowl XXXI team, is now living in a 24-hour care facility in Wisconsin. His health has deteriorated rapidly, forcing a painful separation from his wife and children.
According to his family, Winters has lost the ability to speak and struggles with daily memory. In a bittersweet twist, the only things he can recall are his daughter’s name — and that he once played football for the Green Bay Packers.
“He can’t speak anymore. He only remembers our daughter’s name and that he once played football. He doesn’t even know my name. Doctors say it’s frontotemporal dementia, but he’s far too young. I believe constant head trauma from football caused it,” his wife shared.
From 1992 through 2002, Winters started 141 games for the Packers, becoming Brett Favre’s trusted center and earning the nickname “Bag of Donuts.” He earned Pro Bowl honors in 1996 and helped deliver Green Bay’s first Super Bowl title in three decades. In 2008, he was inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame.
Teammates remember Winters not only for his accolades but for his grit and loyalty. Favre once called him “the most reliable lineman I ever played with.” For fans, Winters’ name remains inseparable from the team’s 1990s resurgence.
Today, as he battles frontotemporal dementia, Winters’ story serves as a stark reminder of the toll that years of head trauma and collisions can take on NFL players.
Though his words are gone, his legacy in Green Bay — and the love from Packers Nation — endure stronger than ever.
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