Reggie Strong was crossing a street in Memphis with a big smile on his face, dreaming out loud about hitting a jackpot at a casino and telling his friends he would share the winnings with them.

Then the car came.

A driver ran a red light going 60 mph and crashed into Strong, who broke both legs, suffered torn cartilage and tendons in both knees, required over 300 stitches and nearly had his dominant left hand completely torn off.

Just about everything changed for Strong on that April night in 2023. One thing, remarkably, did not — his sense of optimism.

“I was with my dad when the doctor said, ‘Reggie, you’ll never walk again,’” Strong said. “I looked at my dad and I was like, ‘They must not know who Reggie is. I’m going to go do that.’”

Strong is doing way more than just walking. He’s returned to basketball as a 24-year-old freshman at Moraine Valley, where he’s the team’s leading scorer, averaging 15.5 points.

Cyclones coach Kyle Huppe is thrilled his team can be the beneficiary of Strong’s remarkable comeback story.

“He’s so mature and he’s such a great leader for our team,” Huppe said. “He’s been given, essentially, a second lease at life. He knows how fragile life can be and he doesn’t take a single day for granted.”

The road back certainly wasn’t smooth for Strong, a Chicago native who played high school basketball at Farragut, St. Joseph and Orr and briefly moved to Armenia to play after graduating in the middle of the pandemic.

Strong was in Memphis for a men’s league tournament when the accident happened. He remembers waking up in the hospital and thinking it was all a dream.

“Until the pain kicked in,” he said. “Then I was like, ‘This is real.’ But I was just thinking, ‘At least I’m still living.’ I’d talk to God and say, ‘You gave me this second chance. I’ll make sure I do it right this time.’”

Strong spent a month in the hospital in Memphis before he was allowed to return home to continue treatment. Eight bolts held his right arm intact. He had a rod in his right leg and nails going through his pelvis and knees.

When his mother, Dianne, who is a nurse, warned him about the dangers of becoming addicted to painkillers, Strong quickly stopped taking them and stuck with Tylenol.

“The pain was unbearable,” he said. “They were rolling me around the hospital in the wheelchair. I was thinking, ‘I might not ever make it out of here.’ I honestly thought I was going to die in there.”

But Strong found ways to stay positive.

“I love cars,” he said. “I’d look out the windows at the parking lot and be like, ‘Man, I like that car. I think I’m going to get that one day. If I can drive again, I’ll get that one.’

“A lot of people tell me I’m unrealistic, but I just like to focus on things that make me happy. There are lot of negative things happening in the world, but if you focus on that, you miss your blessing. I figured I’ll just laugh and smile my way through the situation.”

Strong eventually made it home and started his recovery. It was literally one step at a time.

“I remember my dad trying to help me stand up when my mom was recording me trying to take my first step and I almost felt like a baby again,” he said. “It was back to square one.”

Strong made progress faster than anyone expected but not without some bumps and bruises.

“When I first started running again, I lived on the fourth floor of an apartment building and I’d just fly up the stairs,” he said. “I was walking back down slowly and I fell down the stairs.

“I was like, ‘Wow,’ but it was crazy because it kind of felt good. At one point, I wasn’t able to fall because I was in a wheelchair, so I just walked that one off.”

By summer of 2024, Strong was back in basketball. He trained kids at Shoot 360, a club in Naperville, and joined a men’s team that played some of its games at Moraine Valley.

After being spotted playing by Aaron Green, then an assistant coach for the Cyclones, Strong enrolled at the school and redshirted last season.

This fall, as the season approached, the Cyclones played in a jamboree, featuring half-court scrimmage games with other college teams.

Strong quickly found out how difficult this comeback was still going to be.

“I’m out of the wheelchair and you’re telling me I’ve got to run up and down the court with 18-year-olds?” he said. “It was exhausting. I was dead.

“I told the coaches, ‘I might become a coach. Give me a quarter-zip and I’ll sit on that bench with you.’”

But Strong persevered. The conditioning was the hardest part. The basketball skills were still there.

“It’s all about reps to get back that muscle memory,” he said. “You could tell I could hoop, but I was rusty.”

Huppe saw Strong get back into a groove after about five games.

“I think it was just him gaining the confidence that he could do it again,” Huppe said. “He knows he can play, but he had to prove it to himself.”

Now, Strong envisions a big future.

“I want to go as far as my work ethic takes me,” he said. “I have a really strong work ethic. I want to play Division I then go overseas or go to the G-League, G-League to the NBA, whatever I can do.”

And Strong approaches each day with a new outlook and a total appreciation for a second chance.

“It’s knowing that at any given time, life can be taken away from you,” Strong said. “Just be grateful for what you have.

“If it’s half-cup empty or half-cup full, be half-cup full every time. That will lead you to a full cup.”