Riders’ Kinne takes life in stride
Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback G. J. Kinne takes professional football’s inherent uncertainty in stride — knowing from personal experience that there is more to life than wins and losses, or touchdowns and turnovers.
Gary Joe Kinne III was a few months away from his sophomore season at Texasbased Canton High School when his father — the football team’s head coach — was shot in the stomach by a parent of a player.
The elder Kinne was given a 10- per- cent chance of surviving, but he pulled through.
Gary Joseph Kinne is still coaching high school football, in fact. And, from time to time, his proud son is still asked to discuss a horrifying incident that took place on April 7, 2005.
“It was definitely a unique thing that happened,” says Kinne, 27. “Your dad’s your coach and then you’re getting ready for a track meet and you hear that someone shoots your dad. That’s kind of crazy.
“It was one of those things where it made me grow up a lot faster. I was only 15 at the time. I had to kind of take care of things at home and on the practice field.
“I was almost like a player- coach, really. I was only a sophomore, but I started as a freshman so I was kind of the leader of the team. We went 12-2 the next year.
“It was one of those things where you never want that to happen, obviously. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever been through, but I was able to overcome it and my dad’s obviously the toughest guy I’ve ever met.”
G. J.’s own toughness is also impressive.
After being taken into protective custody following the shooting, he was erroneously informed his father had died. Instead, Coach Kinne was in critical condition in hospital in Tyler, Tex. He was hospitalized for nearly 100 days, during which he required repeated surgeries.
“I just wanted my dad to be OK,” G. J. Kinne says. “That was our main focus.”
Kinne’s father returned to coaching for the 2005 football season, after which he was named the Adams USA National Coach of the Year.
Jeffrey Doyle Robertson, apprehended on the day of the shooting, is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
Thankfully, the younger Kinne is able to focus on other matters — his family story becoming topical from time to time, usually when it is raised by a reporter.
Kinne is personable and happy to talk. He likely suspects that some of the questions will pertain to a chapter of his life that he would rather forget, but he handles the situation like a pro.
Earlier in June, Kinne landed in Calgary and joined the Stampeders, who had just released two- year veteran quarterback Bryant Moniz. After a brief stay in Calgary, Kinne joined the Roughriders. His signing was announced on Saturday.
“I’m very thankful to be here,’’ Kinne says. “Every opportunity is the same. I go out there and give it my all every day and compete in practice and see where it goes.”