Wink Martindale

Winston Conrad "Wink" Martindale (December 4, 1933 – April 15, 2025) was an American disc jockey, radio personality, game show host and television producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he was known for his outgoing and jovial demeanor and his booming voice, who was also well-known for hosting the game shows: Gambit from 1972 to 1976 (and again from 1980 to 1981), Tic-Tac-Dough from 1978 to 1985, High Rollers from 1987 to 1988, and Debt from 1996 to 1998. He also presented Wink's Vault, on his YouTube Channel, from 2014 until his death in 2025.

Winston Conrad Martindale was born on December 4, 1933, in Jackson, Tennessee. His mother, Frances Mae (née Mitchell; 1901–1986), was a housewife, and his father, James ("Auzie") Martindale (1901–1969), was a lumber inspector. He was the fourth of five children: James Kenneth Martindale (1925–2017), Edward Leo Martindale (1927–2003), Frances Geraldine King (1930–2025), and David Lynn Martindale (1943–1990).

Martindale grew up in humble circumstances in a deeply religious household. When speaking of his childhood, Martindale said that "There were five of us in our small house, and my three brothers, one sister, and I lived with our parents in a two-bedroom, one-bath house with no shower. All of our water had to be heated. We poured water into a tub to take a bath. My parents bought our groceries on credit at Woody's Grocery Store. We used to go to church every Sunday morning and evening and on Wednesday nights we went to Bible study. When school was out in the summer, we attended Vacation Bible School."

For a child his age, Martindale had a distinctive voice, although his mother was the opposite of that. His mother had wanted him to become a minister. She believed he had the perfect voice for it and he was also a frequent churchgoer. Martindale said that a person could only become a minister if he heard a calling, and would later admit to his minister that he wasn't called for the ministry. Martindale then said: "When I was a boy growing up in Tennessee, my mother, God bless her, always wanted me to be a preacher. She'd say, 'Son, with your voice, I think God intended you to do work in the ministry.' It took me years to convince mother that you don't just become a preacher. You have to be called to the ministry. She finally accepted that, though it took years. So when I got the preacher job on 'B&B' I thought, 'Mom would be so proud.'" Martindale got his nickname "Wink" after he shortened it from Winston to Winkie after his childhood friend had trouble pronouncing his first name (Martindale would ultimately shorten it again to "Wink" later in life).

Martindale started his career as a disc jockey, when he was 17 at WPLI in Jackson, earning $25 a week. After moving to WTJS, he was hired away for double the salary by Jackson's only other station, WDXI. Next, he hosted mornings at WHBQ in Memphis while a college student at Memphis State University, before graduating with a bachelor of science degree in 1957. While at Memphis State, Martindale was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.