Triple gold for Port High’s Hinze

Nate Hinze is going out with gold. — again.

The 36-year-old Port Washington High School assistant principal and Cedar Grove native who overcame cancer that led to a portion of his leg being removed during high school has won three straight Paralympic gold medals in wheelchair basketball and is calling it a career for the second time.

Hinze thought the Tokyo games of 2021 were his last hurrah, but he asked his wife Ashley for one more run at it, this time with a sweetener. She and their children — ages 9, 6 and 3 — could come along.

Japan didn’t allow spectators due to the pandemic, and the family didn’t want to risk getting the Zika virus in Brazil in 2016.

Hinze played in four of the six games — the USA won them all — and his family got to watch in person.

The USA won the gold medal by beating Great Britain, 73-69. They held an eight to 12-point lead most of the game until it got closer toward the end. Hinze didn’t play in the game.

“We only played six guys,” he said. “It was tighter than we wanted it to be.”

But after the game, the scene was exactly what Hinze wanted it to be.

“Those moments are so hard to describe. You celebrate with your teammates, but being able to find your family and giving them a hug...” he said.

When the American flag was raised during the medal ceremony, “That’s a memory that you never forget,” Hinze said.

It helped that the atmosphere was electric, the polar opposite of Tokyo’s empty venues.

“The hosts were fantastic. Every game we played was sold out,” Hinze said.

His second-best memory was beating France in the quarterfinals.

“We’re up a pretty good amount and they (the fans of France) are not leaving,” he said.

The team made history, becoming the only one to win three straight golds in wheelchair basketball.

“We knew we had the right pieces in place,” Hinze said. “It’s the mental prep because you know each team is going to give you their best shot because they want to dethrone you.”

Hinze didn’t get to enjoy as many delicacies of Paris as he would have liked. The team was mostly confined to the Paralympic Village eating cafeteria food. When he was allowed out, he went to a cafe and drank “the best latte I’ve ever had.”

Hinze and his family stayed in Paris for a couple of days after the games, visiting the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe.

His children relished the trip.

“They loved it, even the simple things you don’t realize,” Hinze said. “They loved chasing pigeons. They could get so close to them.”

During the hours-long flight back to Chicago, Hinze sat next to his 3-year-old who kept busy with electronic devices.

“I think he slept only an hour,” he said. “It helps you put into perspective what your wife has done many times.”

Hinze now has a trio of golden stories to tell that can inspire future generations.

“I think when you look back at the whole journey — being diagnosed with cancer in 2005 and there’s nothing for you to do. You find wheelchair basketball in 2006,” he said. “I think it’s pretty incredible you’ve been given these opportunities.”

If he could tell his 2005 self that had a bone cancer called osteosarcoma, leading to nine months of chemotherapy and a 14-hour surgery to remove part of his leg, replacing his knee and part of his tibia with titanium anything, it would be, “It’s all going to be OK.

“I think the biggest takeaway when I look back on it is there was always a plan.”

Now, the plan is to spend more time with family, coach baseball and basketball and work out on his own without having to follow a program or report to a strength coach.

He wants to return to the Paralympic Games in 2028 in Los Angeles, this time as a spectator. Training and competing didn’t allow Hinze to see any other sports live. He wants to take in sit volleyball or wheelchair rugby.

Hinze now will serve as a resource or mentor for others with physical disabilities.

“It’s always hard to approach people in public, but it’s a sense of duty,” he said.

“They could take a step through a door they wouldn’t have if you don’t say hi to them. You know how much sports impacted you. You want to see if it can help them.”

Hinze can share how he retired on top of the Paralympic podium with a gold medal. Again.