‘He will never quit’
When thoughts turn to the offensive line of a high school football team, many fans will envision a behemoth player of more than 200 pounds. Medical Lake center Joe Hinson breaks the mold, coming in at 5 feet 9 inches tall and 170 pounds.
“He’s one of those overachievers,” said Cardinal Head Coach Rick Olson. “He will never quit and give up. He practices as hard as he plays. … When we did all of the tests with him, his feet are absolutely incredible in terms of foot speed. He’s got extremely good strength for a 170-pound kid.”
Hinson weighed nearly 200 pounds during his junior season, but lost the weight to wrestle at the 168 level last year. Hinson also throws the javelin during track season, but it is his wrestling ability that helps him in his battles in the trenches.
“It helps a lot, keeping my hips low, getting good body position, and keeping my feet moving,” said Hinson. “It helps a lot with stance, really taking a shot forward, getting low, pounding hard, and to be able to get lower than the other person and using all of my momentum to move forward rather than get pushed back.”
Hinson has also battled off the field, overcoming nearly going blind in one of his eyes six years ago.
“When I was in the sixth grade, I had something that looked like athlete’s foot and I went to the doctor’s for treatment,” Hinson said. “One of the doctors gave me a Lamisil pill, which was not supposed to be prescribed to children. It put a bunch of holes in my retina. It turns out I didn’t even have athlete’s foot, it was just a skin rash.”
“When it originally happened, I had to refocus to catch a football because my depth perception was off,” Hinson said. “There’s been times I’ve been blindsided and I don’t even see it coming because it’s at a bad angle. I have no vision on that side, so I’m not able to see it. Other than that, I just don’t let a lot of people know so they can’t take advantage of it”
Hinson has rebounded to play not only on the line, but also play fullback at times for the Cardinals the last two seasons.
“I really do like running the ball, helping out the team with yards and laying some big hits, but offensive line is also pretty fun,” said the senior. “Blocking all the time, making some big holes for other people, allowing them to get big runs and helping the team out. I’ll do anything the team wants me.”
“He asked us if he could play fullback this year, and when we tested him in skill and agility tests, he tested out really well,” said Olson. “We moved him to fullback, but we found we just needed to be a little bit stronger at the center position in terms of what we were asking our center to do. He was that perfect guy for that. He also handles all of our long snaps, and he starts at inside linebacker.”
While the wins and losses have perhaps not gone the way the Cardinals would want, Olson knows he has a winner in Hinson.
“He’s just an absolute neat kid,” said Olson. “When we have our Thursday spaghetti-feed dinners, he’s one of those kids that never leaves the hall until everything is picked up and put away, while some other kids have a tendency to just eat and leave. His mom and dad have done just a great job of instilling that work ethic in him.
“He’s one of those kids that if you’re looking for someone to represent your school or community, he’s that ambassador you need.”