The wife and daughter of former UIC basketball coach and current Wisconsin assistant coach Howard Moore died in an auto accident Saturday in Michigan, Wisc., confirmed Sunday morning.
Moore's wife, Jennifer, and their daughter, Jaidyn, were killed in a head-on collision caused by another driver going the wrong way on the M-14 freeway, the report said. The other driver, a 23-year-old woman, also was killed, according to a Detroit News report on the crash.
The University of Wisconsin issued a statement Sunday morning: "We were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Howard's wife, Jennifer, and their daughter Jaidyn. Howard and his son, Jerell, both suffered injuries but are expected to recover."
The Detroit News reported that in addition to the three fatalities, three others were flown to the University of Michigan hospital in Ann Arbor for treatment, with one person in critical condition and two others sustaining minor injuries. A third vehicle was involved in the crash, both papers reported.
"There are no words to describe how devastated we are for Howard and his family," Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard said in a statement released by the university. "Our basketball program is an extremely close family and we are all grieving for the Moore and Barnes families."
The crash occurred at 2:04 a.m. Saturday, Michigan State Police told the Detroit News, with the preliminary investigation indicating the 23-year-old woman was driving west in the eastbound lanes.
The report, which did not name those involved, said a child riding in the vehicle that was struck head-on was pronounced dead at the scene, while "an adult female driver of a vehicle not at fault" was also flown to the hospital but was taken off life support Saturday afternoon.
Moore, 48, grew up on the West Side of Chicago, blossoming into a Public League basketball star at Taft before playing forward at Wisconsin from 1990 to '95.
He worked as an assistant at the University of Chicago, Bradley, Ball State, Loyola and Wisconsin before serving as UIC's head coach from 2010 to '15. The Flames won 18 games in the 2012-13 season, their most victories in six seasons.
Moore returned to Wisconsin in 2015 as a member of coach Greg Gard's staff after UIC fired him.
Despite living in Wisconsin, Moore has remained committed to improving his hometown.
He has hosted a basketball tournament and camp called "Legends Taking Back the Streets" each summer in Chicago in hopes of starting a productive dialogue about gun violence and providing an alternative outlet for youth.
His uncle, Leroy Moore, 70, was fatally shot in Chicago in July 2017.
"It would be easy to say: 'My family and I live up in Wisconsin now. This is somebody else's problem,' " Moore told the Tribune in 2017. "But Chicago will always be my home. I'm a proud Chicagoan. I'm a proud West Side resident. It hurts me to hear people talk about my city who don't really know my city."
