After winning the 1976 Class A State Basketball Championship, Jimmy went on to play baseball and ended the season hitting for an average of .390. He was the team MVP in ’75 and ’76 and won Region MVP in ’76. Then during the summer, he played American Legion baseball with Columbia Post 19 and led the team to a (22-7) record as the catcher and batted .480. On July 22, 1976, Jimmy signed a dual scholarship to play baseball and basketball at Lambuth College in Jackson, Tennessee at his grandparents’ house in Lobelville. After signing, Jimmy had to get ready to move out and head to college as basketball workouts were starting soon. As the semester started, Jimmy was enjoying his classes and making new friends in a new area and school for the first time. One thing that Jimmy did not have to worry about was making new friends. He was very outgoing and never met a stranger. Whenever he needed help on a subject, he would always go to Mrs. Newbill for assistance. Whenever I was at Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Mrs. Newbill was older and not in the greatest of health at the time, but she wrote to me wanting to meet me and go for a milkshake. She even crocheted me a throw for my bed after high school graduation. She had lots of stories about Jimmy but unfortunately, I never got the chance to meet her. I’m sure whatever she had to tell me would’ve been some great stories that I had never heard before.
As basketball season started, Jimmy played sparingly but against Rust College out of Holly Springs, Mississippi, he did contribute 6 points as the team fell 76-70. As always Jimmy would dive on the floor and always hustle. He got the guys fired up for the games even though he didn’t play as much as he would’ve liked. When he played, Jimmy was hard-nosed and always gave his all. The Eagles basketball season did not go as planned as Lambuth ended the season (11-15) and were a middle-of-the-pack ball team. The most he scored was 7 points in a 95-94 double overtime win over Belmont. Jimmy never understood why he didn’t get to play as much as he hoped. He always said he wasn’t good enough or maybe he just lost his love of the game due to the coach. However, he stuck it out and at the end of the season he decided next year he wasn’t going to play basketball and stick to baseball. As we all know, baseball is what made Jimmy excited. During the summer of 1976, Major League Baseball scouts from the Oakland Athletics and Cincinnati Reds were looking at Jimmy and they followed him throughout his freshman year at Lambuth.
In the Spring of 1977, Jimmy and the Lambuth baseball team went down to Florida for a preseason schedule a few weeks before the season started. Jimmy always talked about how free he felt and how “Hotel California” by the Eagles was playing on the radio while they cruised around. To this day when that song comes on, I can’t help but think of Jimmy and his friends singing that song. Their first few games, Lambuth started out (4-6) on the season and Jimmy contributed a home run in a double header win over Mount Union (IL). On April 12, 1977, Jimmy hit solo home runs in the eighth and ninth innings to seal the deal as Lambuth defeated Bethel 6-3. Even though Jimmy didn’t catch every day, he was usually the designated hitter of the team. Lambuth had some good upper classmen catchers on the team and for him being a freshman, it was hard to get him playing time behind the plate. But when Jimmy played you could feel his presence at the plate and behind it. In the city rivalry game against Union University, Jimmy hit a double to left centerfield and got the Eagles ahead for good in a 3-2 win. The Eagles were riding high as they took on their rivals from Henderson the Freed-Hardeman Lions. An assistant coach for FHU back in 1977 called me to his office my first year at FHU in 2010. He is a Perry Countian and good family friend Tony Kirk. He told me a story about Jimmy the time he came to Henderson to face the Lions, and it wasn’t a good day for his team. “I was sitting there trying to tell my pitchers don’t give this guy anything to hit around the plate. Well, fastball on the inside corner: Gone. Next at-bat Jimmy came back up and this time my pitcher threw a curveball on the outside corner and Jimmy whacked it over the right field wall: Gone.” Said Kirk, “When he touched home plate, he looked at us in the dugout and walked back to his side. That’s when I knew he was special and man that guy could not only catch but hit. By far the best hitter I ever saw.”
After the season, the Eagles went (20-11) and Jimmy was selected, as a freshman when freshmen did not play much back then, to the All-Conference Second Team for the Volunteer State Athletic Conference. Jimmy had an average of .358 with 6 home runs and 33 RBI’s (runs batted in) when he did not play every single game. As the offseason kicked in and final exams were done, Jimmy went back to Lobelville to be with his family and his friends. Coming back home to Perry County was always special to him. Even though this was a very happy time and Jimmy was excited for year two of college as well as to see what the future may hold in baseball, sometimes God’s plan isn’t necessarily what we expect.
June 26, 1977, was a day like any other. It was a Sunday, Jimmy and his family did what they always did on Sunday mornings, get up early and head to the Lobelville Church of Christ. After service, Jimmy decided to go to the Tennessee River and ski with his best friend Mike Rhodes and his girlfriend Bobbie Gail Peery. Another friend, Becky Hudson, jumped in to go with them to get gas. Back in Lobelville, Jimmy’s sister Becky and family were at an uncle’s visitation, and she was getting aggravated that her brother had not come back yet because he was supposed to take her to meet her friends. Little did she know, Jimmy was in a fight for his life.
Back on the boat, Jimmy and his friends were running low on gas, so they headed to Cherokee Landing to fill up the tank. While on their way near Perryville, Jimmy got up and did the “Rocky” pose from the movie but as he was sitting back down, the boat ran out of gas. When that happened it came to a sudden stop that threw Jimmy about 10 feet out of the boat and into the water. The boat was still moving due to its momentum and Jimmy later said in an interview with the Jackson Sun, “I remember thinking I had better get deeper because of the propeller. I was kicking and trying to get deeper in the water, and I could hear the boat getting closer and closer. I covered my head with my arms. Then the propeller hit my right forearm and then the right-back side of my head. It must have knocked me 10 or 15 feet deeper.” As Jimmy continued his description, he casually mentioned “something strange” happening to him at this point. “Really and truly, I thought it had killed me,” he said. “But as I was tumbling down, I could see myself tumbling more than I could feel it. It was as if I was in another boat, watching it all. I could see the reactions of everybody. I could see our boat. I could see myself tumbling and then float to the top. As I came up, it was like I was swimming along beside myself, helping myself stay afloat.”
At this point in the rescue, Hinson said he was secured in the water by Mike, who then went back to the boat to get some life jackets. Hinson was supported by Bobby Gail and Becky, the other two people in the boat. “I was still kind of backed off, watching all this take place when I saw Mike throw the life jacket from the boat. It hit perfectly, right over my shoulder. Then I saw Mike jump into the water. I might have been a little addled, but as far as I know I could see an island in front of me and the two girls, the boat and Mike were behind me. I know it sounds crazy, but I still saw Mike do all of this. I saw him jump into the water and swim to me. When he touched me and I heard his voice, that’s when I knew I was alive. Then everything seemed to pull together.”
After Mike got Jimmy in the boat with Bobbie Gail and Becky, Mike jumped back into the water, swam 100 yards to shore, then ran nearly a mile barefooted and scaled a small cliff before finally finding help. Meanwhile, Jimmy was fighting for his life. Losing blood through a deep gash on his head, Bobbie Gail and Becky held pressure on his wound while he remained conscious for an hour and 15 minutes before help arrived. Once the paramedics got there, they took him to Decatur County Hospital before taking him to Jackson General Hospital. Jimmy’s mother Marie and family were getting worried because they had not heard anything from him all afternoon, which was unlike him not to check in with them and he didn’t go to Sunday night service. Finally, in the late evening, they found out about his accident and went to Jackson where a long battle between dreams and reality was setting in for someone that had his whole life ahead of him.
The doctors said if he had not been in great physical shape he probably would not have survived the accident. As I’ve said before, the don’t-quit attitude of Jimmy is something that helped him all through life and now it’s going to help him get through the worst challenge to date.
What would you do if your life suddenly changed due to a freak accident and you had zero use of your legs, barely any use of your fingers and hands? This was the dilemma that Jimmy had to figure out. It’s a similar story to Job in the Bible. A man who had everything and then lost it all in a blink of an eye. When Jimmy got to Jackson General Hospital, he stayed there for ten days getting treatment. A reporter from the Jackson Sun came to interview him just three days after the accident. In bold letters, he said, “I WILL WALK AGAIN. I may be 40 when I do it, but I will walk again.” That motivation and drive that we have talked about for weeks is something that never went away. He had to be put in traction to stabilize his neck and head with weights attached to tongs which were screwed into each side of his head. The pain from this was insurmountable and anytime someone was walking, talking too loudly, or a door shut, it would vibrate Jimmy’s head due to the weights and cause more pain. One night, a nurse came in to flip him over, however she pressed the wrong button, and the weights fell to the floor, causing him to pass out from the pain. This was one of the worst experiences he had in the hospital.
After 10 days, Jimmy was transferred to Vanderbilt University Hospital where he stayed for six weeks. He amazed the doctors with his progress and determination as he still believed he would be able to get on his feet again one day. Minutes became hours, hours became days and days became weeks as Jimmy continued progressing with his treatment. He started to use his hands more, though his fingers didn’t work completely but some. Then he started to get more control of his arms and upper body. This gave Jimmy hope that if he could get his upper body working, it wouldn’t be long before he can get his lower body back as well. Marie Hinson (Ward), Jimmy’s mother, quit her job to be with him full time. However, the medical expenses were going to be astronomical but there are a lot of great people in this world, and they came out in force. There were charity softball games, basketball games, potlucks, donation cans by registers at stores, and even Jimmy’s best friend Mike Rhodes got his Vanderbilt Commodores team to play a benefit basketball game, and it was packed. The Jackson Sun wrote, “Indeed, the response is comforting reassurance that in time of need there are still plenty of people who care about their fellow man.”
After Jimmy finished at Vanderbilt, he came back home to Lobelville for about a month before going to Lamar Rehabilitation Center in Memphis. He stayed for about three months and was able to come back home for Christmas. During this time, Jimmy believed that he could move his toes and his feet and would get excited thinking that he was able to move below the waist but unfortunately it was just muscle spasms. This is when the dark reality of his worst fear started to come into play. Going on a year after the accident, for the first time in his life, Jimmy was in doubt. Periods of depression came often, but there is still plenty of fighting spirit in his heart. During another interview, Jimmy said, “The doctor told me I had a very good chance of regaining full use of my hands, but chances look bad for my lower body coming back. I haven’t given up hope, though.” The main objective was for him to keep doing rehab, but the next hurdle was getting a job. “If it’s selling apples on a street corner, I will get a job,” declared Jimmy, “I have to depend on my mom for a couple of dollars when I go out with friends, and that hurts deep down because I know she doesn’t really have it to give.” Through federal funds and the money, he earned, Jimmy was able to buy a van equipped with a lift inside to help him in and out of the vehicle. One of the biggest hurdles of being confined to a wheelchair is not having any freedom. Having this van was a way for Jimmy to finally have that freedom that he had been needing. “Whenever I see a ballgame on TV, I’ll get depressed. I really believe I was capable of playing pro baseball…Now, I can’t take care of myself like I want to, and that depresses me very much. I also wish people would realize I’m a person. They think something is wrong with my mind just because I’m in a wheelchair. That’s why I always try to speak to them when they stare at me.” Little did Jimmy know that his life was about to turn around for the better sooner, rather than later.
Jimmy was able to get a job, starting with the Perry County Highway Department where he did the payroll, paperwork, office work, answered phones, etc. Not long after that, he started dating and one night at a softball game, Jimmy asked his friend, Terry Richardson, if he should date this one girl or Julia Trull. Terry said, “I think you know which one to choose Jim, and that one is Julia.” That night, he asked her out and the next day they drove around Linden and talked and that started a connection that would last the next 23 years. In 1980, he decided to quit his job and go back to college full-time at Freed-Hardeman where in 1982 he received his associate’s degree in Pre-Pharmacy. He stayed in a special dorm for handicapped people at the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy in Memphis. However, he started having health issues and got behind in his classes, so he decided that he needed to go back home. He hated to quit anything, but this program was way too demanding to fall behind in. On his return back to Linden, he found another job with Kolpak Industries in Parsons. Once again, The Jackson Sun came to talk to Jimmy about how life has been since the accident. One thing for sure was that he overcame the mental and physical obstacles associated with the trauma by regaining his passion for living. “When I was at Lambuth I was full of life. There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t feel great. Today, I still have the same mental feelings about life I had then. It’s great. I’ve just learned how to appreciate the littler things. It’s very hard to go back to Lambuth, probably the most painful side effect of the accident. I rode around campus a couple of times and went to the baseball field. I wheeled myself out onto the field and just sat there. All those memories of my time at Lambuth started coming back. I could hear the crack of the bat and see the home runs I hit against Freed-Hardeman and Mt. Union (IL). It really hurt.”
However, when Jimmy decided that it was time to not worry about the past and only worry about the future, that is when he went to Truell’s in Jackson and got an engagement ring and proposed to Julia. On June 14, 1985, Jimmy and Julia married at the Beardstown Church of Christ. From 1985-86 he worked in the Drug Information Center on the Pharmacy School campus. Then Jimmy and Julia left Memphis in 1986 and moved to Nashville where they stayed for a few years. During this time, Jimmy and Julia worked at Vanderbilt Medical Center, Jimmy worked at the Plant Operations and Julia was a pharmacist. He monitored the elevators and received work orders from the hospital and the university campus for any type of problem that needed fixing. Then he gave work orders to the plumbers, electricians, etc. to go and fix the problem. Jimmy and Julia tried to have children and each time they would flew to Houston, Texas to a fertility doctor that helped with handicapped men. During this time in 1991, Jimmy graduated with a bachelor’s degree in human resources from Trevecca University. He would work during the day and went to school at night. Then in 1992, May 14, their third time was a charm as James Hollace Hinson (Me) was born. Dad was so excited. His world was now complete.
From a young age, Dad would have me throwing a baseball, shooting basketball and even throwing a football. Sports was everything to us but so was getting up every Sunday morning to go to church. We would never miss Sunday morning or Sunday night, and we would go on Wednesday nights as well. Dad would wheel me around in his lap in the wheelchair and do doughnuts or just pretend we were going fast. That is still something I love and miss to this day. When I was four years old, Dad took me and Mom to St. Louis where I watched the Cardinals in person for the first time. From then on that became a Hinson tradition and it’s still strong today. Tragically in May 1999, a tornado came through Linden and really changed everyone’s lives. His brother Hollis was killed alongside Ms. Patti Haston, Kirk’s mother. This was yet another struggle that Dad had to deal with. Losing his brother was like losing his father all over again. He stayed strong and persevered, but Uncle Hol was one of the best around. Dad was always proud of his Perry County Vikings athletic teams. He would always say, “Hey, Jasper, if you get your homework done, we will head to the game.” Whether it was football, basketball, or baseball, we were usually there. Even on Saturday's Dad would take me to Vanderbilt football games and we would be there cheering on the Commodores. Then in the winter, he would always take me to some Vanderbilt basketball games as well and it was always fun to go and sit on the floor level.
During the time after the accident, Dad would go to the hospital at least once every two or three months with a urinary tract infection. Back in 1996, he nearly died due to sepsis following bladder surgery. The last time we went to St. Louis as a family was sort of ironic because he was hurt on June 26th, well 25 years and three days later, they were having “Meet the Players” on the field at the old Busch Stadium. We met Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen, and a rookie named Albert Pujols. Dad shook his hand and told him, “You’re going to be a great player one day, keep working hard.” Albert said thank you and sure enough Pujols is probably a first ballot hall of famer. Dad enjoyed the next day with Mom and me as our last game as a family was June 30, 2002. Then on August 11, 2002, I was baptized into Christ at the Linden Church of Christ where I am a member. I was 10 years old, but I knew Christ was the son of God and I wanted to give my life to him. The first thing he said to me when I told him and Mom the night before was, “This is the best decision you can make in your life. I’m proud of you.” On August 26, 2002, Dad went to the hospital because he wasn’t feeling well and was having bad headaches. This time however, something was different. In his room at Baptist Hospital (St. Thomas Mid-Town) on Thursday, August 29th, we were watching the Cardinals play on FOX. It was time to go, and I turned, and I said, “Dad, whenever you get out, can we watch the Cardinals?” Dad grinned and looked at me and said, “You betcha! I love you, son.” I told him I loved him too and that was the last time I saw him alive. About an hour later, Dad started to spasm violently, so the doctors sent him back to ICU to give him medication to stop his spasming and he could be watched closer. Around 3:00 p.m. the next day he went into cardiac arrest. However, unbeknown to anyone, Dad had a blood clot around his heart. So, when they shocked him back, the clot went straight to his brain, and he was put into a coma for his body to rest. Unfortunately, on September 10, 2002, Dad passed away. The 25-year struggle with being paralyzed and the pain he went through every day was over. He was a loving husband, father, and Christian.
That gold jersey in the high school is just a jersey. However, there’s a story not only connected to it but with all the other jersey’s as well. Through middle and high school, I would always look at that jersey with pride because I knew he was so happy to watch me play for the school and community he loved. Now that I’m older, I still look at it and think to myself I hope his grandchildren will look at that same jersey someday with as much pride as I do. Dad always said he would walk again. Right now, I believe he has no paralysis, everything is healed, and he’s running in paradise.
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