Chicago native Reggie Strong battles back from a serious injury to become a star at Moraine Valley
When the pandemic hit in 2020, Reggie Strong was wrapping up a high-school basketball career playing for three of the state's most respected coaches and looking at a bright future.
Since then, it's been a long and challenging five years that included being told he'd never walk again after being hit by a car in 2023. But now his career is back on track as a 24-year-old redshirt freshman at Moraine Valley.
"It's exactly like a movie," Strong told the Sun-Times. "It's actually surreal. I was in a wheelchair. I would imagine how I would look on the court."
Now he knows, averaging 15.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists a game in his first competitive season since 2019-20.
He played that year for Lou Adams at Orr after stints at Farragut under William "Wolf" Nelson and St. Joseph with the late Gene Pingatore. He appreciates what those coaches taught him on and off the court.
"At Farragut, I picked up ... system ball, but more so grit, grind," Strong said. "We pressed the whole game,
"Then at St. Joe's we're running more plays. Coach Ping [had] an actual system: pass, cut, screen. When I got to Orr, it was like, if you don't play defense, you're coming out [of] the game. ... I told myself the other day, I'm really lucky to have those three great coaches. ... They taught me a lot ... to be a better person and to have a heart on offense and defense and just to go out there and put it all out on the floor for the team."
Colleges were paying attention. Strong had Division I interest from Purdue, DePaul, Southern Utah and Miami of Ohio, among others.
Then the world shut down, and so did Strong's basketball career.
To stay sharp, he started playing in a men's league on the South Side. That led to an opportunity to play overseas in an exhibition tournament in Armenia. But that didn't lead to any college offers, so he went back to the men's league.
In April 2023, his team traveled to Memphis for a tournament. He was walking back to the hotel with his teammates when he was hit by a speeding car while crossing a street.
His injury toll: two broken legs, torn tendons and cartilage in both knees, requiring 300 stitches, along with bolts and pins and nails in his right arm, right leg, pelvis and knees.
In all, Strong underwent 15 surgeries in five months. With big assists from his parents, on the one-year anniversary of the crash in April 2024, he was able to walk again. Around that time, Strong and his family moved to the western suburbs and he got a job at a fitness facility in Naperville.
One of his co-workers was then-Moraine Valley assistant coach Aaron Green, who connected him with Cyclones head coach Kyle Huppe. They met in November 2024 after Strong had started taking classes at Moraine Valley.
"The first thing I remember, the kid shook my hand and his handshake was super strong — just one of those grown-man handshakes," Huppe told the Sun-Times. "Your first impression is: really hard worker, really mature and just laser-focused on what he really wants. This was before I really even knew his story."
Strong practiced with the Cyclones and took a redshirt last season. Now he's a leader on and off the court. He's majoring in business and has a Division II offer from Lewis along with interest from Division I schools.
"I don't know if it's a dream in real life right now," Strong said. "It's a really beautiful place, really beautiful people. I love my teammates, I love my coach."
The feeling is mutual.
"I told his dad, 'It's a blessing to coach your son,'" Huppe said. "Just because of his attitude every day. And the perspective that he just has on life in general is different than a lot of guys that play at this level. ...
"We call him Superman."