Hines played collegiately for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks from 1961-1965. In 1964, Hines was the anchor of an offensive line that helped Arkansas win its only National Championship in football, and in 1965, he was a consensus All-American. The Houston Post named Hines the Southwest Conference Most Outstanding Player for the 1965 season, a rare honor for a lineman. In 1994, he was selected as a member of the Razorback All-Century team. He was named a member of the Express NewsSan Antonio, All-Time Southwest Conference Football First-Team Offense in July 1989. Hines was later inducted into the Arkansas Razorback Sports Hall of Honor in 2001 and the Union County Sports Hall of Fame in 2012. In October 2018, Hines was inducted into the Southwest Conference Sports Hall of Fame.
Hines was drafted by the NFL's St. Louis Cardinals and the American Football League's Houston Oilers in 1965. In 1966, he signed with the Oilers and played for them until 1969 in the AFL, and, in 1970, in the NFL. He played the 1971-72 seasons with the New Orleans Saints, and retired after his final season with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1973. An accomplished pass blocker at a time when offensive linemen were severely restricted in the use of their hands to block pass rushers, he was an AFL All-Star game selection – the AFL version of the Pro Bowl – in 1968 and 1969. A model of durability, from his first season in 1966 through his final season in 1973, Hines started and played in 115 consecutive NFL games, including three playoff games. In 2000, the Tulsa World named Hines to its Area Pro All-Century Team. In the December, 2005 issue of Football Digest, Hines was named to the All-Time Houston Oilers Team.
Later life
Hines was diagnosed with advanced dementia due to his football career and donated his brain for post-mortem analysis to the Boston University CTE Center. In January, 2020, the Boston University CTE Center announced that Hines was diagnosed with stage 4 CTE, the most advanced and severe form of CTE. In articles published in Sports Illustrated, Medium, and on the Concussion Legacy Foundation's website, Hines’ son, also a former football player at Arkansas, Marine Corps Colonel, and author, described Hines’ physical and cognitive decline in his later years and how the family's efforts to recover funding for medical care and treatment under the league's settlement with players - which were supported by the requisite diagnoses made by numerous board-certified doctors - were nevertheless summarily rejected by the NFL in the months before Hines died in February, 2019.
