Gainey’s regular knee rehabs turn out rewarding for Southwestern Randolph athlete

Jake Gainey goes through a rehabilitation session following another injury. (Courtesy photo)

 

ASHEBORO — Injuries interrupted basketball and baseball seasons so often for Southwestern Randolph’s Jake Gainey that he became well-versed in reciting the setbacks.

He also committed to a series of rehabilitation sessions that he became as familiar with as shooting drills and batting practice.

Yet multiple knee surgeries later, Gainey was on the baseball field this spring for the Cougars, completing a high school athletic career that seemed anything but normal.

“I learned a lot of lessons that I wouldn’t have learned,” Gainey said of the string of dislocated knees. “Negative mindsets are a killer for everything. I realized it was a mental hurdle I had to get over. There was still a lot of uneasiness. But I love playing basketball. I love playing baseball.”

In June, he was one of four recipients of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s Tony Simeon Courage Awards, which honor individuals who despite adversity demonstrated exemplary character and performance resulting in becoming an inspiration to others.

He was a guard on basketball team and a third baseman and pitcher in baseball. And a too-frequent visitor for medical exams.

There were five dislocations of his knees. He said he relied on John 13:7 (“What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”).

“I had a goal in mind that I wanted to accomplish,” he said. “I was really driven.”

Then during the past year, the day before the second basketball game, his left knee became dislocated for the fourth time.

“That was probably my toughest one,” Gainey said. “It was my senior year.”

Months later, he got back on the court for the final two basketball games. He then made it through the 2025 baseball season.

“I really enjoyed it,” he said. “I got to play ball with my friends one last time. I knew at any moment it could be taken away.”

He had routines for the rehabs, often twice per day with visits to the Randolph-Asheboro YMCA. Sometimes it was prior to classes and more conditioning later in the day.

“The exact same thing,” he said of the injuries. “I was really hesitant. I knew I had to kick it up another gear because this is going to be hard.”

 

Wounded knees

The knee ailments began when he played for Southwestern Randolph Middle School.

“It really started in eighth grade,” he said. “It was that weird basketball season with COVID.”

Playing a game against Southeastern Randolph Middle School, an opponent’s foot connected with his knee in an awkward way.

“I looked down and my knee wasn’t where it usually is,” he said, noting it popped it back into place.

That started what became can agonizing trend. An injury, a determined response and that wishful thinking that’d he be playing a regular role.

“I had the mindset that I was going to get back,” he said. “I really wanted to get out there and I knew it would come.”

As a sophomore in a junior varsity game at the Asheboro Recreation Center, where Asheboro was playing home games, he became tangled up with a Blue Comets player and a teammate.

“My knee was on the side of my leg,” he said.

As he was tended to on the court, his father came out to check. Jake, fearing Stephen Gainey would be queasy, told him to turn away.

“I knew I had to get it back in place before it swelled up,” he said.

The first two injuries involved his left knee. The sophomore injury required surgery on the right knee, so he missed the rest of the basketball season and all the baseball season.

“I was so eager to get back,” he said. “It wears on you mentally when something like this happens.”

The time off also hinders development.

“The beginning of fall baseball, of course, I couldn’t hit a beach ball if it was thrown to me,” Gainey said.

Then while playing on defense he went down again in the basketball preseason as a junior. The result was another surgery.

 

No hiding

During a baseball game this year at McCrary Park, Gainey slid into second base, jamming his knee. Before he could get up, Gainey had an unexpected onlooker – Asheboro outfielder Ben Luck – checking on him.

Luck and Gainey are longtime friends, partly through First Baptist Church Asheboro, so Luck knew the deal.

“He slid into second base and something didn’t look right,” Luck said. “Kind of in pain a little bit. … Always bad injuries. He could never stay healthy.

“Kind of felt bad for him because obviously at this age all you want to do is play sports and have fun. He has been able to do that, but kind of limited in a certain way.”

Those injuries created a wide support system beyond his family.

There’s Garrie Storie and Joe Mullins from Athletic Training & Conditioning, Gary Leach with the YMCA, school trainer Victoria Curry and pastors Mark Hall and Stephen Owen from his church.

“My teammates, they were always there for me,” Gainey said. “I still felt I was part of the team.”

Southwestern Randolph baseball teammate Zack Scruggs, also in the Class of 2025, had seen Gainey in the dugout more often than on the field.

“Recovery all the time, always working through it,” Scruggs said. “Always made a point to be there, for sure. Very resilient and strong. A lot of recovery and praying.”

While Gainey rarely became the focus in the sports venues, there was certain attention. His father is superintendent of the Randolph County School System.

With that, Jake Gainey said he realized that “you may not know everybody, but there’s a lot of people who know you.”

The younger Gainey, 18, carved his own path. He was student body president and salutatorian in his class with a 4.6406 grade point average.

At North Carolina State, he plans to study sports management along with journalism and sports science.

“Maybe I never accomplished the personal and team accomplishments that we wanted,” Gainey said. “But I always loved sports. I wasn’t going to let these injuries stop me from doing what I love to do.”