Wink Martindale's Second Wife Dated Elvis Presley Before She and the Game Show Host Married
Wink Martindale and his second wife had Elvis Presley in common.
Updated April 16 2025, 11:22 a.m. ET
It's not a stretch to say that Wink Martindale was the king of game shows, though he was an entertainer long before television came a-knockin'. He got his start in radio and bounced around a couple of stations before he finally found an unusual television gig as the host of a science fiction-themed kids' show called Mars Patrol. When he finally landed his first game show in 1966, Wink was still married to his first wife.
Of all the wild stories Wink could probably tell, few were as interesting as his friendship with Elvis Presley. They met in 1954 while Wink was a DJ at WHBQ in Memphis. The fledgling disc jockey was at the radio station the night Elvis's first single was played on-air. Wink and Elvis became friends after the singer popped into the station for an interview. Years later, Wink would marry one of Elvis's ex-girlfriends, Sandy Ferra. Here's what we know about his second wife.
Wink Martindale married his second wife in 1975.
Sandy's father owned a nightclub in Las Vegas, and one night Elvis Presley was at the club and happened to see a picture of Sandy in her father's office. As Sandy tells it, when her father called home and told her Elvis wanted to meet her, she thought, "Elvis Presley, well that's a funny name." Eventually, the two ended up dating for six years, from 1960 to 1966, even though Sandy was 14 and Elvis was 25 when their relationship began.
By all accounts, it's a coincidence that Wink ended up marrying Sandy in 1975. The two were married for nearly 50 years and were still together when Wink passed away on April 15, 2025, after battling lymphoma, per NBC News. Wink is survived by Sandy as well as three of his children from his first marriage.
Wink had four kids from his first marriage.
Wink married his first wife, Madelyn Leech, in 1954 when he was 21. The couple had an amicable divorce 17 years later, per the Memphis Commercial Appeal. "We simply got married far too young," Wink told the outlet. They went on to have four children: Lisa, Lynn, Laura, and Wink Martindale Jr., who preceded his father in death.