The first signing of its kind occurred last night at Bradley’s Pub & Grille in Mitchell. Opening up Mitchell’s “Quarterback Club” this week was not a guest speaker, but instead it was a letter of intent signing for Dakota Wesleyan Men’s Basketball. The Mitchell Kernels’ Gavin Hinker, with family in attendance, accepted an offer to play basketball for the Tigers and put pen to paper last night in Mitchell.
Hinker had made an appearance with his Mitchell basketball teammates the week prior to speak about himself, talk about the season and answer any questions the attendees may have. One of those questions were about the next steps for him and whether or not he was going to play basketball at the collegiate level. He has been on the fence about the decision for weeks and it seemed like his decision could go either way, for a time. Then, over the weekend, he made a post himself on his social media that he was going to be a Tiger.
Hinker was a star player and played center for the Kernels over the years. For his career, he averaged 10.7 points per game and 5.8 rebounds while posting a career 60.6% field goal percentage. He is a 2024 Class AA State Champion, where he made the game-winning layup to put the Kernels ahead for the championship victory. He currently holds the record for the highest FG% in a single season at 68.1% for Mitchell. This year he received the honors of Eastern South Dakota All-Conference, State Tournament All-Tournament team and All-State second team.