Edison teacher Aaron Pines, who led Los Amigos baseball to historic season, dies of cancer
Edison High teacher Aaron Pines, who led the Los Amigos High baseball team to their first league title in program history last spring, has died of cancer.
Pines died Friday, Edison Athletic Director Rich Boyce said. He was 34 years old and taught math at Edison.
“Just a great guy,” Boyce said. “A big Dodger fan. Back when he was on leave, we used to text all of the time about the Dodgers. He was just one of those good people who was always there for other people and always doing the right thing. It’s hard to put into words losing somebody at the age of 34 years old. It just boggles the mind.”
Pines, who is survived by his wife Deriah, was first diagnosed with cancer on his tongue and neck in 2019. He had surgeries to remove it, and underwent chemotherapy and radiation concurrently in 2020. But then he found out last year that the cancer had spread to his lungs and pelvic bone.
He coached the Los Amigos baseball team for three years. Last spring, he led the Lobos to the Garden Grove League title and their first winning season since 2004. They won their first 11 games and finished 23-5, earning the top seed in the CIF Southern Section Division 7 playoffs before suffering an upset loss at Big Bear in the second round.
Aaron Pines did it all while undergoing cancer treatments at City of Hope in Duarte. His father Myron, a former longtime coach at Santiago, served as his assistant last spring. In league, Aaron got to coach against his brother, Greg, at Rancho Alamitos.
Former Edison baseball coach Cameron Chinn, who resigned after the 2021 season, helped out Aaron Pines at Los Amigos last spring. Pines formerly served as an assistant coach at Edison under Chinn.
“I think a lot of us assumed that when the cancer had gotten worse, about a year or a year and a half ago, that he wasn’t going to be able to do it again last year,” Chinn said. “But he found a way. You know, it’s a passion, and I think it really kept him going. Not only did it inspire him to keep going, but I think it inspired the kids to give as much as they could. I think they understood, ‘My gosh, he’s out here fighting for his life, we have to fight for him too.’
“He would be there in a wheelchair or a walker most of the time. He didn’t have the energy to move, but he would be dictating practices from the dugout as his dad was doing a lot of the assisting, along with a couple of other assistant coaches. But Aaron was definitely in charge.”
It was that passion to stay on the field that amazed current Edison baseball coach Nick Cappuccilli, who played college baseball with Pines at Golden West. Pines, a Garden Grove High graduate, also played at Chapman University.
Cappuccilli kept up with Pines over the years, and both taught at Edison. He said his friend loved wrestling, and they would often meet up to watch World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) events.
“That guy was in constant physical pain, and you could not get him off the field and out of the classroom,” Cappuccilli said. “That’s just a testament to who he is. He was there for his kids. There for his players, there for his students, and he was not going to be taken away from them.
“It’s sad because sometimes I hear people say, ‘He lost his battle with cancer.’ I’ll tell you, man, he didn’t lose at all. He beat the hell out of that thing for three years. He’s just such a great example of a fighter. It took a lot to keep him down.”
Boyce said that everyone at Edison became a Los Amigos baseball fan. After the Lobos won the league title last spring, people would go by his room all the time to offer congratulations.
“We were all proud of him for that, but we just loved the guy,” Boyce said. “He was such a good person.”
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