Tine Henry Hardeman, Jr. passed peacefully to his heavenly home on Dec. 2, 2024. He was 92. Tine was born on a reservation in Parker, Arizona, on March 5, 1932. He was child No. 5 out of 10 children.
Tine was raised in the San Joaquin Valley. His family worked as share croppers, picking cotton and whatever else was in season. At a young age, he decided to make education a priority so he wouldn’t be a cotton picker all his life.
From 1952-56 Tine attended Westmont College in Montecito. He was very excited to attend a Christian College, having recently accepted Jesus as his Savior.
A summer logging accident interrupted Tine’s studies and eventually prevented him from serving in the military. At one point, the doctors doubted he would walk again. However, he regained his strength and had a successful senior year, playing basketball once again at Westmont, where he still holds the record for most points in one game.
The summer after graduating, he joined an evangelical basketball team, Venture for Victory. They played many olympic and other high-caliber teams in many Asian countries, including Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines.
In 1955, Tine married Janet Louise Rice of Slayton, Minnesota. In 1958 they moved to the Philippines with Philippine Crusades. They served at Faith Academy, a school for missionary children, not returning home for good until 2019.
During the summers, Tine played with Venture for Victory, logging a total of over 3,000 international basketball games. He also played for Philippine Airlines’ team for several years.
Tine and Jan raised four children, TJ (Cindy), Terri Turner (Dan), Tom (Maddy) and Todd (Robin). They returned for one-year furloughs every five years, living in Long Beach, California; Huntsville, Alabama; and Santa Barbara.
Tine taught classes such as Bible, science, and P.E., and coached basketball and volleyball at Faith Academy, while Jan was the school nurse. He also coached basketball at Westmont 1974-75. Once he retired from coaching at Faith Academy, he continued as sports chaplain.
Jan joined her Savior on Jan. 4, 2019, and Tine returned and lived with his eldest son in Brea, California, for a year. In June of 2020, Tine moved back to Santa Barbara and spent the last four years of his life at Samarkand Covenant Living.
Tine is survived by one sister, Linda Hunter; four children; 14 grandchildren, Heidi, Katie, Travis, Trent, Kelsey, Tashia, Bennett, Grady, Elias, Leila, Elizabeth, Kelly, Todd Jr. and Joshua; 18 great grandchildren, Vander, Huddy, Logan, Lincoln, Corrie, June, Mikey, Cambria, Denver, Corbin, Alana, Leiden, Tark, Resi, Rooks, Finley, Asher and Emilia.
He also leaves countless nieces and nephews, as well as cousins, especially Virgilia Becker.
Tine was a kind, loving husband, father and grandfather, friendly with everyone. In addition to basketball and volleyball, Tine enjoyed swimming and snorkeling, and camping at the beach in the Philippines, as well as playing table games. He also relished the Santa Barbara beaches.
He took his family through Europe on “Ten dollars a day,” and enjoyed traveling. He loved attending church as well as his Bible Study at Samarkand. His greatest joy was in sharing his faith with others so they could know they were going to heaven. I John 5: 11-13 was his favorite passage to share this truth.
Tine’s Celebration of Life will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 15 at Santa Barbara Community Church, 1002 Cieneguitas Road, Santa Barbara.
In lieu of flowers, consider donating to the Westmont College student scholarship fund.