Coach Jeff Hinz lived and finished well
In life, Post Falls High School football coach Jeff Hinz imparted many lessons to his players and students ... the importance of strength of character, teamwork, dedication and excellence. In death those same lessons are also being taught.
Jeff traveled a long, tough road since being diagnosed with cancer in 2013 and there’s no doubt that road was also filled with fear, uncertainty and pain. Lots of pain. But all along the journey Coach Hinz never shied away from facing reality and being honest with his players, friends and the community. During grueling treatment, when most of us would have been secluded and prone, Jeff would make his way to the football field for practice or for games.
As the disease progressed and the treatments intensified his family and friends kept people updated on his condition. He welcomed visitors when he probably would have welcomed rest and quiet. Jeff knew that absent a miracle, a really big miracle, cancer was a foe he would not defeat. But in his own way, he won the battle by being the most authentic human being most of us will ever know.
I recall last winter a hard fought basketball game between rivals Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene. Jeff had been hospitalized and there were setbacks on every front. But there he was, the football coach, walking slowly and painfully with a cane, making his way up into the bleachers to cheer for the home team at a basketball game. Those were the moments that the kids and the adults as well, will remember.
For many of the young people he coached and influenced Coach Hinz’s death may be the first view of mortality that they’ve experienced. It has broken a family’s, a school’s and a community’s collective heart but it has also been an incredibly inspirational lesson of finishing well.
Jeff’s wishes were for a memorial on the football field under the Friday Night Lights so on Friday at 7 p.m. at Trojan Field friends from throughout the area will gather to celebrate the life of Coach Hinz. While 45 years is brief in time, it was most certainly a life well-lived.
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Tiffany Tilton-Nelson is arranging for a fireworks display to honor Jeff at the memorial service, a fitting tradition for touchdowns scored. If you’d like to contribute to the fireworks call Tiffany at 660-6154 or drop off donations small or large by the end of the day Thursday to Post Falls Family Dental, 313 N. Spokane St. Any donations above the several-hundred-dollar cost for fireworks will be given to the Hinz family.
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Highlights: Coffee with a Cop this morning at 9 a.m. at the Trading Company in Post Falls. Thursday, 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. CdA 2030 annual celebration at Riverstone Park. Also on Thursday, a performance of Dog Fight to benefit the Guardian Foundation at the Modern Theater in Coeur d’Alene at 6:30 p.m. On Friday Coeur d’Alene High School Class of 1970’s no-host annual reunion at Bardenay starts at 5 p.m.
Saturday features the Harrison Summer Concert Series at city park on the lake at 2 p.m. and free charcoal grilling classes at North Idaho Cider in Hayden at 1 p.m.
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Happy birthday today my brother-in-law Rick Scharf, Ann Beutler, Larry Trosper, Gail Everson, Brady Campbell, Shelly Zollman, Rich May, Brian Thormahlen and Janet Pulis.
Tomorrow is a special day for Darrell Rickard, Jan Nelson, Bekah Manderscheid, Cathy Werner, Zack White, Hank Wayman, John Hensley, Debra Wunderlich and Karen Englestad.
On Friday one of my favorite members of the WWII Greatest Generation — Jim Shepperd turns 90, sharing the date with Mark Anthony, Tanya Peugh and Sam Taylor.
Sharmon Schmitt, Nicole Coquette, Terra Karl, Dianne Ansbaugh, Brenna Meehan and Peggy Coleman put on their party hats on Saturday.
Launching into a new year on Sunday are Patricia Richardson, Bill Hamilton, Adam Durflinger, Mary Beth Broderick and Tab Bray.
On the first day of August, Rich Houser, Tatiana Harrison, Bev Moss, David Noordam, Duane Oliver, Patricia Kaufman, Dennis Harlan and Dodge Gonzales will be celebrating.
On Tuesday Austin Viles, Mandy Averill and Matt Odd are blowing out the candles.
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Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email mainstreet@cdapress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kerrithoreson.