Former Hoosier Hornsby Has Plenty to Keep Him Busy

Kyle Hornsby has his hands full.

The former IU Basketball standout is now a Bloomington physician with a mouthful of a specialty – a cardiac electrophysiologist – working for Indiana University Health. He's been practicing in Bloomington for three years, and like everyone in the medical field, his stress level is higher, his certainty about what each day will bring lower, as he tries to best serve his patients in the midst of a global pandemic.

"This has been something that was an unknown for everybody," Hornsby said.

Yes, that will keep someone busy.

But that's not the only thing taking up his time. No, what's occupying just about every other waking minute in Kyle's days are his sets of twins.

That's no typo. Hornsby and his wife, Whitney – a former IU women's soccer player who has a Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology – have two sets of fraternal twins, ages seven and four. So when either of the Hornsbys return home from work, peace and quiet isn't on the menu.

"When we all get together at the end of the day, after Whitney has had a long day and I've had a long day, the kids are just on cloud nine because everyone is home and everyone is going at once," Hornsby said. "And you're like, holy cow. I love you all, but you all need to be quiet for a little bit."

Sitting down for a meal together doesn't settle things down, either.

"Meals are a circus," Hornsby said. "It's an onslaught of information and questions and everyone trying to talk at the same time. It's overwhelming."

But setting aside the challenge of being pulled in four different directions, the raucous is greatly outweighed by the rewards.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Hornsby said. "They all have such a good time together."

If there's been a silver lining for the Hornsbys while they have navigated so much uncertainty, it's that the disruption in their workdays have given them a chance to all have more play days. In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kyle found himself with an unusual amount of time on his hands while elective medical procedures were put on hold. As he was spending more time at home, and he took advantage of it.

One week they held their own family soccer camp. The next week it was family basketball camp. Swimming camp and tennis camp, followed, and Kyle soaked up the chance for some extra family time.

"There was a lot of time when elective surgeries were shut down where I didn't have anything to do," Hornsby said. "It was so much fun to spend that time with them, to see the kids learn and see how much they enjoy being active and running and playing. As terrible as the pandemic has been for a lot of people, there was that positive that came out of it for us."

Nowadays, Hornsby is back on the job as his workload has largely returned to some semblance of normal. Certainly there are a smorgasbord of procedures and protocols that he and his patients need to go to protect themselves and others against the coronavirus, and some 50 percent of his visits are done virtually. But he's back to doing what he loves professionally.

And what Hornsby loves is the study of the heart. As a cardiac electrophysiologist, Hornsby tests the electrical activity of the heart to determine the cause of an arrhythmia, or abnormal heartbeat. These tests can result in a wide range of recommendation for patients, including pacemakers, implantable cardioverter defibrillators, surgery or medication.

"I love what I do," Hornsby said. "I'm really glad I'm doing what I do. The work is tough, and yes it's stressful, but I really enjoy it."

As much as he loves it now, it wasn't necessarily on his radar when he first arrived on the IU campus as a freshman in the fall of 1999 as a sharp-shooting guard from Anacoco, Louisiana.

At first, he was convinced he wanted to pursue a career in either athletic training or physical therapy. When he told Coach Bob Knight his plans, he got a direct reply.

"He said no," said Hornsby. "He said you need to do sport marketing and management."

So Hornsby followed Knight's advice. He changes his focus, but quickly realized that the sport marketing and management path wasn't right for him. He approached then IU Academic Advisor Buzz Kurpius and said he wasn't happy, and that he needed do something different. She helped him re-direct his undergraduate studies, and he began his pursuit of a degree in kinesiology.

Knight's reaction?

"Either he didn't know, or if he did, he didn't say anything about it," Hornsby said.

Hornsby earned his degree in Kinesiology, and was subsequently accepted to graduate school in physical therapy. But that's when his career path took another detour.

"Even though I was all set for physical therapy, I just felt like I wanted to do something different," Hornsby said.

So Hornsby passed up on physical therapy school and instead spent two more years in Bloomington to get the prerequisites that he needed to go to Medical school. He was ultimately accepted to IU's Medical program and enrolled in the fall of 2005. His first two years were spent in Bloomington followed by two more in Indianapolis. From there, he went to Duke for his internal medicine residency from 2009-12.Next up was Ann Arbor, Mich., where he did his general radiology residency for three years and then two more years of electrophysiology.

It was a long journey, one that had its share of bumps along the way.

"I knew it was the right thing for me, but at times, it was another level of adversity," Hornsby said. "I had dealt with plenty of adversity at IU, but there were times when I was not sure if I was going to make it or not. But I think everyone feels that way to some extent when they're doing something they really want to do."

Hornsby is doing exactly that, in a town that he loves. While he's very glad to be back in Bloomington, it wasn't always a foregone conclusion. Whitney had completed her post-doctoral work at Duke, and after Kyle's residency at the ACC school wrapped up, he had signed an informal contract to return to Durham once he completed his work in Ann Arbor. But by the time five more years had passed and the chance surfaced to come back to Bloomington, plans changed.

"Bloomington was too good a place to pass up."

He also thoroughly enjoy the other doctors he's around on a regular basis. High on that list is Dr. John Strobel, Bloomington's other cardiac electrophysiologist whom Hornsby first met in 2006 when he was an IU Med student.

"It's nice to have someone like him that you've known for so long and can trust, to be able to have conversations with and bounce patients off one another because no one physician knows how to treat every condition."

Another IU Health colleague that Hornsby has great appreciation and respect for is Dr. Larry Rink. In addition to his long-time roles and responsibilities at IU Health, Rink has also served as the IU Men's Basketball Team Physician dating back to Hornsby's time on the Hoosier roster.

"From the first time I met (Dr. Rink), he's always been interested in everyone he comes into contact with," Hornsby said. "He's always interested in helping people achieve things that they didn't know they could achieve. That's just the way his brain works.

"Every step of the way, we've had conversations and he was always interested in what I was doing and where I was headed and frankly how he could get me back here."

Rink is far from the only individual who he used to share time with during his IU Basketball playing days that he stays in contact with. He talked with Dane Fife, now the associated head coach at Michigan State, occasionally. Former teammate Tom Coverdale also has twins, giving the former IU backcourt mates another bond to discuss when they interact. George Leach and A.J. Moye are among those Hornsby enjoys catching up with at reunions, and now that Mike Roberts is on Coach Archie Miller's staff, he's probably the one that Hornsby talks to more than any other.

When he does have a chance to catch up, it's a reminder that as much as he enjoys what he's doing now, there's plenty that he misses from his playing days.

"I miss the competitiveness we had at practice, the interactions before, during and after practices," Hornsby said. "I miss just being around them. I played with some genuinely nice guys, people you want to hang out with."

Former Hoosier Hornsby Has Plenty to Keep Him Busy

Related Videos