He showed athletic prowess at a young age and was a two-sport standout in basketball and football at El Dorado High School.

He was named a member of the Express News San Antonio, All-Time Southwest Conference Football First-team Offense in July 1989.

[12] Hines and Jason Peters (still active) were named the top two Razorback offensive tackles in school history to play in the NFL.

Former Oklahoma head coach and Arkansas assistant Barry Switzer said of Hines, “He was the only one who looked like he could be a pro football player we had playing on the offensive line.

[16] Due to his declining neurological and physical condition, Hines was unable to attend his Southwest Conference Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony held in November, 2018, and was represented by his son Wes and daughter Shelia, who accepted the award on his behalf.

[18] In articles published in Sports Illustrated, Medium, and on the Concussion Legacy Foundation's website, Hines’ son Glen, a former football and baseball player at Arkansas, Marine Corps Colonel, and author, described Hines’ rapid physical and cognitive decline in his later years and how the family's efforts to secure funding for medical care and treatment under the National Football League's settlement with players - which were supported by the requisite diagnoses made by numerous board-certified doctors - were nevertheless intentionally drawn out, delayed, and belatedly rejected by the NFL in the months before Hines died in February, 2019.

[19][20][21][22] He was one of at least 345 NFL players to be diagnosed after death with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is caused by repeated hits to the head.

[23][24] Hines' physical and cognitive decline from stage 4 CTE in his later years and the NFL's rejection of the family's claims for life-sustaining medical care and treatment under the designedly convoluted settlement process with former players were chronicled in the Welcome to the Machine podcast in the fall, 2021 and the book published in September, 2023.

[25][26] In January, 2024, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Will Hobson of the Washington Post published the results of a lengthy investigation into the NFL’s handling of claims under the league’s settlement of the class action lawsuit filed by hundreds of former players.

The Post investigation revealed that the league was routinely denying claims for payment and benefits for former players who were diagnosed by board-certified doctors with neurological diseases such as dementia and probable CTE from playing football.