RIVER GROVE It’s a good thing Elmwood Park senior Arturo Reyes is done with tryouts for high school basketball.
Despite being one of the team’s best players, tryout week hasn’t been kind to him.
Two years ago as a sophomore, Reyes was running a temperature during varsity tryouts. Later that night he was rushed to the emergency room where doctors discovered his appendix had burst and he needed emergency surgery. He missed most of the season and was left with a 10-inch scar.
This season, Reyes was getting ready before tryouts with a quick workout at the school’s weight room. He was lying on a bench when a weight rack fell over and dropped on his face. The result was a fractured jaw, cheek, nose and eye socket. Once again he needed emergency surgery and this time he left with titanium plates in his face.
“I wish I would have been knocked unconscious when it happened because I felt everything,” Reyes said. “As soon as it hit me I went to my knees and tried to figure out what was happening. I looked at my hands and the blood was just pouring from my face. I ended up walking to the nurse’s office and from there they called an ambulance.”
When Reyes got to the hospital, his family was waiting for him. Reyes still had no idea of the extent of his injuries and his family didn’t want to scare them with what they saw.
“I was asking them what it looked like and they wouldn’t say anything so I thought it was bad,” he said. “They eventually took a picture and showed me so I could see how bad it looked. My face was so puffy and my right eye was swollen shut. I couldn’t even recognize myself.”
Reyes didn’t know what to expect when he was told he’d require immediate surgery, but there was definitely fear running through him.
“The one thing that scared me the most was surgery,” Reyes said. “I thought I’d look like the Joker from Batman, but they did a good job. They went through the top of my eye lid and through the inside of my mouth.”
Reyes isn’t left with any easily noticeable scars. He stayed in the hospital for a couple of days before being released. He wanted to get back on the court immediately, but doctors wouldn’t clear him until it healed and they wouldn’t give him a specific date.
Finally, after about eight weeks, he was allowed to rejoin his team. And they were glad to have him back, especially since he figured to be one of the key players this season. Elmwood Park (4-14, 1-6) went 1-8 without Reyes.
“It was really hard playing without him,” junior Anthony Perodin said. “He brought a lot of energy to the floor and he’s not scared to take the big shots. There’s also a lot more pressure taken off of me with him out there.”
Reyes is still working to get back into peak game shape but he’s making progress. He had an impressive outing in the Tigers’ 50-47 Metro Suburban East loss to Guerin (8-13, 2-5) on Friday night, when he scored nine of his team-high 15 points in the fourth quarter.
“I’m very proud of him and what he’s doing, but we need everyone to step up,” Elmwood Park coach Tony Sylvester said. “At this moment in time we’re just not good enough to win. We compete and battle but it’s very hard for the kids to look up at the scoreboard every game and realize that they’re close but just not good enough yet.”
Missing a large chunk of another season hurt recruiting interest, but Reyes is hoping to play at a junior college before transferring to a four-year school.
He just needs to hope his jinx doesn’t carry over to the next level.