He’s baller, a vlogger, a world traveller, an entrepreneur.
You might call Charles Hinkle the renaissance man of the St. John’s Edge.
Hinkle has always been up for a challenge, on and off the basketball court, and he’s aced his latest as a member of the expansion Edge.
The southern Californian finished fourth in scoring in the National Basketball League of Canada this season, averaging better than 20 points per game.
In overall categories, he’s topped his team in minutes played, field goals, rebounds, and in free throws and three-pointers made. One night in Windsor, he poured in a remarkable 53 points, the third-highest single-game scoring performance in league history.
And he did it all while playing much of the season out of position. A 6-5, 205-pounder who normally is slotted as a small forward in his career, the 30-year-old Hinkle was used primarily as a power forward before the Edge added some size during the second half of the regular season.
Monday night at Mile One Centre, Hinkle scored 28 points and dished out a half-dozen assists as the Edge downed the London Lightning 123-110 to tie their best-of-seven Central Division final at 2-2.
It’s all part of remarkable revival for Hinkle, who didn’t play basketball last season after stepping away from the game to help foster the mobile dry-cleaning business he and a childhood friend had established in Orange County.
“But I still had the passion. Still had the itch for the game and I would work out every morning before I had to go to work (at the dry cleaning business). I realized I still wanted to play basketball,” said Hinkle.
He ended up scratching his itch at the far side of the continent after the Edge came calling.
Neither the team or the player has regretted the move.
Hinkle was a finalist for the NBL Canada most valuable player award which would go to teammate Carl English. He was also named the Edge’s newcomer of the year as a player in his first season in the NLBC.
St. John’s is just the latest stop in what has been a world-wide basketball trek for Hinkle. That flight from LAX to St. John’s might have been long, but he he’s travelled further to play hoops.
After graduating from American University in Washington, D.C., where he was a scoring star for the NCAA Division One Eagles, Hinkle played in Hungary, Turkey, Israel and Japan, with a season in the NBA developmental league (then known as the D League) in between.
Then again, even before he attended university, Hinkle had already shown a willingness to go a long way to fulfil his basketball dreams.
At Los Alamitos High School, he played alongside future Toronto Raptor Landry Fields, but even though the school won a state sectional title in Hinkle’s senior year, he wasn’t offered what he wanted — a full-ride athletic scholarship.
“And my goal was Division One. I didn’t want my parents have to pay for college,” said Hinkle, “and I wasn’t going to give up just because things weren’t happening in the right way.”
He found himself having to maintain that attitude.
Hinkle accepted an offer to attend Hebron Academy, a prep school in rural Maine, hoping it would lead to big school scholarships, but the coach who recruited him there left before the start of the school year and was replaced by the team’s manager, who happened to be a hockey coach.
“We were on our own in a lot of ways,” recalled Hinkle, who nevertheless remained at Hebron until the end of the basketball season, leaving during spring break because he didn’t need to graduate — he had already done so at Los Alamitos the previous year.
“I think it was March 21 and there was still three feet of snow on the ground (in Maine) and I think it was like five below zero Celsius,” Hinkle said recalling his departure. “I got home and it was in the 80s Fahrenheit. That was nice”
But while the temperatures were warmer, nothing had heated up on the university front. Hinkle’s last resort was summertime recruiting camps.
“Nothing was happening. I thought I would have to go to JC (junior college), but on the last recruiting weekend, I went from zero scholarships to about 30 offers.”
He eventually settled on Vanderbilt University in Nashville, in part because of academic consideration.
“My dad, my uncles, my cousin, they’re all engineers and I went to Vanderbilt for engineering,” he said.
But after two years as bench player at “Vandy,” Hinkle transferred to American, changing not only his school, but his major, focusing on business administration.
“If you have a passion for an endeavour, you can do it … and that applies to both sports and business.”
Charles Hinkle
He’s putting both the basketball skills he honed and the degree he earned at the D.C. school to good use.
His business is called Lunkle Cleaning (a melding of his surname and that of his friend/business partner).
“You can give us a call, give us a text or visit our website, and schedule an appointment. We will come, pick it up, drop it off (for cleaning) and bring it back.
“We’ve got car dealerships and bridal shops as clients and one entire building with about 1,800 people.
“It’s a been a big learning experience, but it’s fun, too, and it’s perfect for me, because even though I had an accounting degree, I didn’t want to be stuck in an office.”
His friend is looking after day-to-day matters in his absence, but computers and cellphones have allowed Hinkle keep on top of the business despite the distance between St. John’s and Orange County.
“I’m still very hands on,” he said. “Anything is possible, as long as you are willing to give the time and effort, no matter how far away you are.
“If you have a passion for an endeavour, you can do it … and that applies to both sports and business.”
And he still has time for his latest interest, maintaining a website (www.hinklehoops.com) and chronicling his and the Edge’s season on a video blog that can be found on YouTube.
“I knew that no matter what I would do after I was officially retired from basketball, I still had to build a brand. That’s where Hinkle Hoops came about. I put in any content I can and If people like it, they like it,” said the offering’s producer-director.
He’s also the star, although teammates make regular appearances and double as crew, often from behind the cellphone that is his recording instrument.
So have random strangers.
“I’ll be walking along and see someone and ask them to hold my phone and record something. It’s been great, because I’m trying to showcase not just basketball, but the whole experience of playing outside your home country and how beautiful, how different, St. John’s is.
“I’m trying to edit it more to make it look a little better. I’m learning what apps to download, what apps to use. If your practising two hours a day and you have 22 hours that are free, there’s time. It keep’s my mind busy.”
Hinkle has had no trouble staying busy — mind and body — as of late. He and the Edge are in the midst of a hard-fought playoff series that has seen St. John’s and defending champion London playing just about every second day, with travel involved.
Game 5 is Thursday night at Mile One, with Game 6 Saturday in London.
The playoff matchup is the latest chapter in a renaissance story that Hinkle admits has been “a tough ride, a humbling ride,” at times.
“It’s taught me a lot as far as work ethic, staying out of trouble, being around good people, doing the right thing and trusting God will open the right doors for you.
“One opened for me here and I’m glad I stepped through.”
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Twitter: @telybrendan
