Winter family provides generous gift for KU Gateway District project

Gift inspired by the power of sports as a catalyst for academic excellence

With two generations of the Winter family having played football for the University of Kansas and decades of philanthropic support for KU Athletics, one might assume the family’s recent gift to support the KU Gateway District was prompted by a love of athletics. But it was something more that moved three generations of Jayhawks to give.

“The primary motivation was support for the academic mission of KU,” said Wint Winter, Jr., who followed his father, Wint Winter, Sr.’s path, playing football for KU, earning his law degree in 1978 and serving in the Kansas Senate.

Like his father, who met his wife Nancy (Morsbach) Winter at KU, Wint, Jr. married fellow Jayhawk Mary (Boyd) Winter, who earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education in 1975. Throughout his career, Wint has been a staunch advocate for higher education, including serving on the Kansas Board of Regents since 2021. Their three children are also all KU alumnae: Katherine Winter, who earned her bachelor’s degree in English in 2002; Molly (Winter) DeLeone, who received a bachelor’s degree in Latin American studies in 2004; and Elizabeth (Winter) Lewis, who earned her bachelor of fine arts degree in 2008. All four of Wint’s siblings also attended KU.

“The Winters are a true crimson-and-blue Jayhawk family that has shown unwavering support for Kansas Athletics and the university for decades,” said KU Athletics Director Travis Goff. “This generous gift for the Gateway Project demonstrates an understanding of its importance to the future of KU, and we deeply appreciate their commitment.”

Wint noted that sports can be a powerful catalyst for supporting a university’s academic excellence and cited record-breaking enrollment in fall 2023 on the heels of successful football and basketball seasons as just one example.

“It’s incredibly fortunate for our family to have the opportunity to support not just the football program and KU Athletics,” said Wint, “but more importantly, the university’s academic programs with this one gift.”

Wint was part of the KU football team that played in the 1973 Liberty Bowl under former coach Don Fambrough. He credits sports as being more important to him now, for the lessons it imparted, than back when he suited up.

“Sports taught me discipline, to not to give up and to keep working through,” he said. “Thank goodness law school came a little easier to me than football.”

“We are so grateful for the Winter family’s generosity to KU and their enduring legacy of dedication to higher education,” said Chancellor Douglas A. Girod. “Their gift underscores the Gateway District’s transformative role for the entire university.”

The family’s philanthropic giving to KU, which includes support for KU Athletics, the KU School of Law, the KU Alumni Association and the Pi Beta Phi Scholarship fund, began with Wint, Sr. and his wife Nancy.

“KU meant so much to him,” said Nancy. “He always felt — even in the early days when we couldn’t give a lot — that we should give what we could.”