Hall of Fame coach Paul Hines (holding plaque) is surrounded by members of his 2017 track and field team at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy.

by Tom Utescher

Paul Hines, who has taught and coached track and field and cross country at Chestnut Hill Academy and then Springside Chestnut Hill Academy since 1981, was recently inducted into the City All Star Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.

Hines led teams at the old CHA to Inter-Ac League championships in 1994, 1999, and 2001, and he had teams place second and third at the Pennsylvania indoor championships. His two Inter-Ac champion outdoor teams from the 1990's have been enshrined in the CHA Sports Hall of Fame, and four of his athletes at the school received nine All-American certifications between them.

A distance runner himself, Hines has run 49 marathons (including 19 in Boston) and is a co-founder of the Greater Philadelphia Track Club.

He began running at a young age with a CYO organization and went on to perform at Cardinal Dougherty High School, where he was a three-time All-Catholic League selection.

He graduated in 1972 and ran track and cross country for Temple University, earning all-league honors twice. Engaging in AAU competition after he graduated from Temple, he became the Middle Atlantic champion in the indoor mile in 1976.

His coaching career began in the fall of that year back at Cardinal Dougherty, and he arrived at Chestnut Hill Academy five years later, having earned an M.A. in history at Villanova. In addition to numerous honors he has received within the CHA/SCH community, Hines was named the 2000 winner of the Mike Mayock Inter-Ac League Teacher Coach Award.

Longtime residents of Roxborough, Hines and his wife, Lucy, have two children, Eleanor, who attended Germantown Academy, and Kevin who went to CHA.