Unbreakably Strong: A comeback at Moraine Valley forged in steel

Watching basketball players slam into the padded wall just beyond the hoop would make most people wince but watching Moraine Valley Community College freshman hooper Reggie Strong do it makes one worried he might shatter. He’s far from porcelain ware, however.

Today, Reggie Strong largely is pieced together with metal rods and bolts after being told he would never walk again, let alone play basketball. He defied the doctors for his return to life and the game he loves at Moraine Valley.

Reggie Strong grew up on the west side of Chicago and then played ball at Farragut Career Academy, St. Joseph High School and Orr Academy. As he approached high school graduation, he was being recruited to play at DePaul, Purdue, Southern Utah University, Miami of Ohio and Saint Louis University before COVID-19 stopped the world.

During the pandemic, Reggie Strong took a break from education, exercised to stay fit and briefly played exhibition basketball in Armenia before competing in a Chicago men’s basketball league.

In April 2023, his Chicago team traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, for the league championship tournament in a three-game matchup. His team won its first contest on April 14. A few hours later, he and some teammates were walking around town. While crossing the street, a car sped through a red light at 60 mph, slamming into Reggie Strong and catapulting him several feet across the pavement. Teammates ran to pull his body off the busy road before a semi-truck nearly ran him over.

His father Clarence Strong, a dedicated supporter of his son’s athletic endeavors, was in Memphis for the tournament and received the devastating call before phoning his wife, Dianne Strong, who was working in Chicago.

“One of the coaches called me, and I knew something was wrong. He told me what happened, so I ran down to ground zero to see him. Reggie was mangled and twisted; it was just a horrible sight before he went to the hospital. It really tore me apart,” Clarence Strong choked up.

Reggie Strong underwent immediate 14-hour surgery to repair his (dominant) left hand, which was nearly ripped apart in the accident. Lying immobilized in a hospital bed, he had two broken legs after one femur popped through his skin (as did his right humerus bone), tendons and cartilage torn in both knees, and 300 stitches along with scrapes, bruises and swelling.

“I gave it to God. I woke up in the hospital in a full body cast. My dad was there with bloodshot eyes. My older brother had died, so I was the only son left,” Reggie Strong recalled.

Relegated to the hospital for a month, Reggie Strong was patched together with eight bolts holding his upper right arm intact, a rod in his right leg and nails through his pelvis and knees. Pain was a constant. He took prescription pain medications that made him sluggish, lethargic and sweat excessively. Once his mother, a medical surgical registered nurse, was at the hospital, her training kicked in. She knew the OxyContin prescribed was addictive and feared the repercussions.

“I stopped taking all medicine two weeks after the accident. I was already against it anyway. I took Tylenol but was still in a lot of pain,” Reggie Strong recollected.

Without any major pharmaceutical aids, Reggie Strong routinely stared at the wall, trying to convince himself he wasn’t in pain. He played mind games, meditated and later journaled and read to control his anguish. He pictured himself back on his beloved basketball court.

Back home, he went to Loyola Medicine’s Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, to endure multiple surgeries before beginning physical therapy. After a couple of months, he was ready to start his own recovery because of his exceptional progress. By January 2024, he could roll himself around the house in a wheelchair and attempted to stand. Stooped over at the waist with slightly bent knees, Reggie Strong began to “stand,” or hover, for mere seconds before falling back into the chair.

A year after the accident, he took his first shaky steps with a walker despite immense pain. A few baby steps led to walking, then to running, then to skipping flights of stairs. By summer 2024, Reggie Strong started training kids to play basketball at Shoot 360, a club in Naperville. That’s where former Cyclones men’s basketball Assistant Coach Aaron Green spotted him, and they started talking about college.

By January 2025, Reggie Strong enrolled at Moraine Valley and became a redshirt on the Cyclones basketball team. He played collegiate basketball for the first time in fall 2025. A 6-2 starting guard, he’s the elder statesman on the team at 24 years old. His manifestations from the days he spent staring at the ceiling are coming true. “Everything I wrote in my notebook is happening. Even the date is right,” he exclaimed. “I feel great, and I love this school. I’m super excited to play.”

These days, Reggie Strong sails from one end of the court to the other, like he never had to relearn how to walk. His goal is to play at an NCAA Division I university before going pro. But he also is eager to earn a degree and potentially return to the classroom teaching statistics or business. With athletics in his blood, he wants to become a coach as well. Until then, he’ll keep hustling and defying the odds.

For news media inquiries, contact Maura Vizza, Moraine Valley communications specialist/sports information coordinator, at (708) 974-5742 or VizzaM@morainevalley.edu.