Former Gamecock Howell suffers spinal injury

Rolando Howell didn’t back down from any opponent during his four-year career at South Carolina or his 12 seasons of professional basketball.

He won’t back down from his new opponent, although he’s asking for help from Gamecock Nation.

Howell broke his C5 vertebrae in an accident last week, leaving him paralyzed. His wife, Reanna Howell, has started a GoFundMe account to help with Howell’s therapy.

The account is at https://www.gofundme.com/rolandohowell. The Howells are hoping to raise $100,000 and have a little more than $4,000 thus far.

“He’ll be in continued rehabilitation for a while,” Reanna said on Wednesday. “We hope that he is able to continue with therapy to get to where he needs to be. The more therapy he has, the better.”

Howell began his first day of rehab in Charlotte on Wednesday, and Reanna said he’s upbeat and positive about the journey ahead. While paralysis is the initial diagnosis, the couple is hopeful that he’ll drastically improve.

“He has not been assessed yet by the rehabilitation center,” Reanna said. “Every spinal cord injury is different. But he is so strong, and he’s responding so well, I’m very confident that he’ll recover.”

Howell was one of only four McDonald’s All-Americans that picked USC and the third from Columbia. A standout at Lower Richland High, Howell scored 970 points for the Gamecocks from 2001-04, playing alongside brother Ivan Howell and helping USC advance to the 2004 NCAA tournament.

Rolando didn’t play in the tournament because of a fractured wrist that prematurely ended his college career. He still went on to a lengthy pro career playing across Europe and Asia.

Howell moved back to Columbia after retiring. He was involved in several business pursuits.

This story was originally published May 26, 2016 at 7:39 AM with the headline "Former Gamecock Howell suffers spinal injury."