Pat Hinkel has leadership coming out of every pore of his body. Following a high school career in which he earned 10 varsity letters and served as a football and basketball captain at vaunted Cleveland St. Ignatius, Hinkel is now starring for Team USA and his old football coach Chuck Kyle at the Junior World Championships.
Pat Hinkel has leadership coming out of every pore of his body.
As a team captain for St. Ignatius’ 14-1 Division I state championship football team last year, he led the team at strong safety and earned his third varsity letter and Second Team All-State honors.
As a team captain for the boys’ basketball team, he earned his third varsity letter in the sport.
And he even tossed in a track letter to end his high school athletic career with a nice round 10 letters in three sports.
Now he’s leading Team United States in the Junior World Championships, starting at safety for his old coach at St. Ignatius, Chuck Kyle, who also happens to be Team USA’s head man in charge.
“It’s great to see coach Kyle leading our team,” said the 6-foot-1, 190-pound Hinkel. “I’ve kind of gotten to know the ins and outs of his coaching style so I’m kind of one of the guys who tells the players when he wants more or when he wants to hold back. This has been a special experience to do this one more time with him.”
Hinkel said that Kyle brings out the leader in everyone he coaches.
“I think he expects that from everybody. He expects the most out of everybody.”
Hinkel said it was a no-brainer to join Team USA when Kyle, an English teacher at St. Ignatius, asked him if he was interested in playing.
“It was in the winter and I was in basketball season and I have him for first period,” said Hinkel recalling the encounter. “He just kind of pulled me aside and he asked me, ‘How would you like to play for your country?’ And you can’t turn that down so it was a special thing when he asked me and it’s been a great honor to play for my country.
“These three letters mean the most to me,” Hinkel said pointing to the USA on his jersey after he contributed a tackle in USA’s 78-0 opening round win over France. “These three letters mean the most to every single person in there (lockerroom) and everybody’s playing with passion and we don’t let up until the whistle blows.”
The Miami of Ohio recruit who also considered Wisconsin as his college choice, led St. Ignatius with 134 tackles and seven interceptions this year. He said he can’t believe how much talent is around him on Team USA.
“This is probably the fastest defense I’ve played with,” he said. “We don’t have to worry about someone on the left or right, you know they’re going to make the play and it’s probably going to be a big play. Playing with great players brings out the best in you so it’s been great playing with all this talent.”
