NFF Valley of the Sun Chapter’s Distinguished Arizonan Recipient: David Hines

The National Football Foundation’s Valley of the Sun Chapter held its 41st Scholar-Athlete banquet on Saturday. The banquet honored 26 student-athletes at the prep and college level for their accomplishments in the classroom and on the field and also awarded three staples of the Arizona football community with the Distinguished Arizonan award.

AIA executive director and long-time coach and administrator David Hines, decorated quarterback coach and broadcaster Dan Manucci and ASU Senior Associate AD Mark Brand were the recipients of this year’s awards.

Hines had a 30-year career as an educator, coach and administrator in the Mesa School District. While he was athletic director at Mesa Mountain View, Sports Illustrated named the school as one of the top 25 athletic programs in the country. In 2008, he joined the AIA and was named the executive director in 2017. 

He helped oversee the addition of the Open Division Championship in Arizona football, and will help usher in the shot clock era for high school basketball as well. 

Many of David’s colleagues, teammates and mentees discuss his impact on Arizona high school sports in this video tribute.