By STEVE KRAH
http://www.IndianaRBI.com
Adam Hines knew there was a history of kidney disease in his family.
When Adam, a 1993 Evansville (Ind.) North High School graduate, was in college his father, Craig Hines, had a kidney transplant.
When Adam was about 35, he began getting kidney scans.
Now 46, the head baseball coach at Henderson (Ky.) High School is three months out from his own kidney transplant.
“I was not diagnosed (with Polycystic Kidney Disease) until five or six years ago,” says Hines. “I knew in the back of my mind it was a possibility.
“There’s no fixing it. You deteriorate over the years. Cysts form and there’s nothing you can do about it.
“They have drugs now that can delay it. None of that was available when I was younger.”
Hines continued to teach and coach, but over time, he became more tired and sick. Toxins were not being filtered from his blood and was vomiting to get rid of them.
More than a year ago, wife Lindsay (the Hines will celebrate six years of marriage July 5) made an appeal for a donor on Facebook. About 10 people were tested and none were matches. Brother Josh — three years younger than Adam — has shown no kidney disease symptoms.
Adam Hines went through Henderson County’s first few 2020-21 scrimmages. He went out to hit infield/outfield.
“Halfway through I said, ‘I’m not going to make it,’” says Hines. “I was huffing and puffing. I got through hitting to the outfield and walked off the field and sat in a chair.
“That’s when it hit just how bad it was.”
Since kidneys also regulate body temperature, Hines was starting to have trouble in hot weather.
Lindsay Hines made another online appeal. Then David Gustafson came into the picture.
Gustafson had been a student of Adam’s mother, Carolyn Hines, when she taught at Evansville Bosse High School and kept in-touch over the years even when Gustafson and his family moved to New England. He proved to be a match and volunteered to be a donor. The surgery was done March 23 in the University of Louisville Health Jewish Hospital Trager Transplant Center.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and his condition, Hines had been the lead virtual teacher at Henderson County and had been running software for students since August 2020. He came back to teaching about two weeks after his surgery and to coaching after about six weeks.
“I still still struggled at the start stamina-wise,” says Hines. “I learned what I could and could not do. I still had a little bit of the pain.
“I had to get used to the physical part of it.”
The Henderson County Colonels went 22-15 in 2021. The team won a District 6 title and lost to Lyon County in the Region 2 championship. Kentucky does not have classes for baseball. Trinity of Louisville beat McCracken County of the state crown June 19 in Lexington.
Hines was hired at Henderson County (enrollment of about 2,050 students in 2020-21) in the fall of 2017 after five seasons as head coach at Owensboro (Ky.) Catholic High School (2020-21 enrollment of about 450). He taught Family Consumer Science at Owensboro Catholic and moved to Henderson County where he would be closer to family in Evansville and be able to teach in his preferred area — Physical Education and Health.
“It’s a better fit for me,” says Hines, who enjoyed his time at Owensboro Catholic and still stays in-contact with many former players. “And it was a chance to move to a bigger school (one of the biggest in Kentucky) and chance to work with more kids on a regular basis.”
Because of its size and location, Henderson County played five games against Indiana schools this spring — Evansville Mater Dei, South Spencer, Castle, Evansville Reitz and Evansville Central.
Hines counted 12 ranked teams on the 2021 schedule.
“I really don’t care what our regular-season record is,” says Hines. “I like to play a tougher schedule (to prepare for the postseason).
“(Kentucky High School Baseball Coaches Association) rankings don’t really matter since everyone makes the tournament. It’s all going to come out in the wash.”
Kentucky High School Athletic Association has district, region and semistate leading up the eight-team State Finals, where the champion must win three games. That means depth is key.
Practice seasons are open in the Bluegrass State.
“We can coach year-round if we want to, but we don’t,” says Hines. “I will typically start sometime in September with fall workouts (typically for five weeks). We take a month off for Christmas and come back and get ready for tryouts.”
This year, Hines had a few football players and one basketball player on his varsity team.
“I have no problem with kids playing other sports,” says Hines. “It makes them well-rounded.”
He says basketball players tend to take a little time to get into baseball shape since they run much of their weight off and don’t get the amount of throwing time in during the winter as other baseball players.
Hines was a right-handed pitcher at Evansville North, where Dan Sparrow was his coach and Jeff McKeon was a teammate, and in college. He played the 1994 and 1995 seasons at Southeastern Illinois College (a junior college in Harrisburg, Ill.) and the 1996 and 1997 campaigns at Murray (Ky.) State University.
His SIC coach was Jay Burch (now athletic director at Heritage Hills High School in Lincoln City, Ind.).
“I love Coach Burch,” says Hines. “I’ve talked to him quite a few times over the years.
“He’s a great leader and a great personality. He has a little bit of humor and a little bit of sarcasm. That fits my personality. I learned a lot from him.”
Mike Thieke was head coach of the Murray State Racers when Hines was in the program.
“He had a compassionate demeanor and was kind of soft-spoken,” says Hines. “That’s the way I am with coaching.”
After his playing days, Hines became a graduate assistant at Murray State while beginning to pursue a masters degree in Education.
Near the end of his college days, Hines talked with his parents (Craig Hines was a teacher at Oak Hill in Evansville) and decided that was the best path for him.
After his GA stint at Murray State, he joined Burch’s staff at Southeastern Illinois and then became Falcons head coach for five years.
When former Murray State assistant Bart Osborne took over the head coaching post at Union College (Barboursville, Ky.), he brought Hines in as pitching coach. That’s where Hines finished his masters degree. He was with the Bulldogs for eight years.
“We had some good runs there,” says Hines. Union won a conference title and went to the NAIA World Series in 2008.
Since the season ended at Henderson County, Hines has been focused on rest and relaxation and good lab numbers.
“I feel like I need to completely rest before we go back to school,” says Hines. “We’ll go to see my wife’s family Alabama. We have not seen them because of COVID-19.
“I’m going to go back into teaching. That’s what I love to do.”
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