Ring Leader

Jamestown native David Hinson celebrated his 48th birthday on Tuesday.

He hopes to be celebrating another special day next week.

The 1995 Jamestown High School graduate is the co-director of college scouting for the Kansas City Chiefs, who will be meeting the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11 in Las Vegas. Should the Chiefs knock off the 49ers, Hinson will receive his third championship ring and second in as many seasons.

After his graduation from JHS, Hinson accepted an offer to play football for the University at Buffalo. He was a running back for the Bulls for four years and graduated with a degree in business management in 1999. While at UB, Hinson did an internship with the Buffalo Bills that eventually led to a job with the NFL team as an assistant to the vice president of pro personnel. He learned how to scout which put him on his career path.

Hinson worked as a scout for the Bills from 2002-2004. He was then hired by the New Orleans Saints where he was employed as a scout from 2005-2008.

His next stop was in the scouting department of the Cleveland Browns from 2009-2012 followed by a job as a college area scout for the New York Jets 2013-2014. Hinson joined the Philadelphia Eagles as the midwest area scout from 2015-2016. The Chiefs hired him as the southeast area scout in 2017, a position he held until 2022 when the Chiefs promoted him to co-director of college scouting.

“It makes you feel so good and so proud when the draftees are able to do the things you thought they would be able to do,” he said in a Post-Journal article in 2020. “That’s what makes college so exciting. It’s the projection. There’s nothing better than making that projection and being right about it. It’s not like I feel they’re my sons, but I’m excited for them, myself and the team because you feel like you contributed.”

ı ı ı

Houghton University freshman Marley Drake (Jamestown/Jamestown) has been named the Empire 8 women’s basketball Co-Rookie of the Week for her performances during the week ending Jan. 28.

Drake averaged 14.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game in a 2-1 week for the Highlanders. She reached double-figures in scoring in all three contests. She opened the week with 10 points and four rebounds vs. Nazareth, and then followed that with a career-high 22 points, draining six 3-pointers to go along with three steals, in a win over Keuka on Thursday. Drake also scored 11 points and added three steals in a win over Utica on Saturday. She drained 11 3-pointers on the week, and is currently second on the team with 33 made treys on the season.

ı ı ı

Jamestown native Cooper Bergman turned in a fine performance for the Florida Eels of the Florida Junior Hockey League.

The right-winger scored two goals and added an assist to spark the Eels to a 10-2 victory over the Palm Beach Typhoon. Bergman, 20, now has six goals, including a game winner, and eight assists for the Eels, who are 23-12-1 at last report.

ı ı ı

Jaysean Paige (Jamestown/Jamestown) is averaging 11.4 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists for Raptors 905, the G League affiliate of the NBA’s Toronto Raptors.

In 21 games, including the Showcase, the 6-foot-2 guard is shooting 40% from the field, including 32% from beyond the arc, and 83.3% from the foul line. He has also had stops with the G League team in Maine, with the NBA’s Detroit Pistons and with professional teams in Germany, Great Britain, Puerto Rico and Mexico.

Collegiately, Paige, 29, played at the College of Southern Idaho, Moberly Area Community College and West Virginia University where he was named to the Second Team All-Big 12 and was the conference’s unanimous Sixth-Man Award honoree as a senior.

As a junior at Jamestown High School, he was The Post-Journal and Western New York Player of the Year after averaging 27 points and eight rebounds and leading the Red & Green to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class A championship game. In two seasons at JHS, Paige recorded 783 points, which places him 20th on the school’s all-time scoring list. As a senior, he transferred to Perry County (Kentucky) Central High School where he posted averages of 21 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.