“I Was Blessed”: How Kingston Flemings Survived an Accident and Became a Star

Only 19, the 6-foot-4, 190-pound Flemings appreciates every day knowing how quickly life can change. The potential one-and-done prospect and projected top-10 pick in June’s NBA Draft knows that reality because he’s lived through it.

Flemings will never forget his first college hoops season. He’s averaging a team-high 16.4 points, 5.3 assists and 1.6 steals per game for the South Region’s No. 2 seed and is the youngest All-American in Houston history after earning second-team honors from The Sporting News.

It was 16 years ago when his life was forever changed.

The date was April 10, 2010. Flemings was at his aunt’s house playing in the front yard with his older brother, Shaydon, and several of their cousins. Their aunt lived on a street with a cul-de-sac, which was thought to provide a safe space for the children to play.

Barely three years old at the time, Flemings doesn’t remember much about that day. But he definitely remembers the pain he felt soon after chasing a ball that rolled into the street.

“There were cars parked in front of each other and a small place that he could get through,” Flemings’ mother, Shayla, says. “The car couldn’t see him, and he couldn’t see the car. He ran out, hit the car, fell on his butt and the back tire rolled over his pelvis. He got run over like he was a speed bump.”

After his family realized what had happened, they quickly rushed him to the hospital. Fortunately, his injuries weren’t life-threatening. He had a small hip fracture, a punctured spleen and a lot of road rash.

Flemings spent several days in the pediatric ICU but ultimately recovered with no lasting effects. What he doesn’t remember, though, his mother certainly does. “It was terrifying because he had tire tread on his pants and shirt,” she says. “But at that age their bones are so pliable, so his hip didn’t break. It was definitely a blessing because you know folks don’t always make it out of that type of situation.”

Looking back, Flemings feels blessed to have avoided any more serious injuries.

“My mom said I was scared to run and cross the street for a while,” he says. “I was blessed for it to not be super bad. It was a surreal thing to happen. I’m definitely glad to be alive.”

According to his mom, the incident helped to shape Flemings into who he is today.

“After the accident, he became even more outgoing,” she says. “We’d go to the grocery store and he would say, ‘Mommy, tell them about how I got run over.’ More of his personality that we see now seemed to come out. It’s just really crazy that something so traumatic happened and changed his perspective, even though being as young as he was I don’t know that he could understand that.”

Miraculously, Flemings fully recovered from that incident. He played every sport possible growing up. Soccer, t-ball, basketball, football, lacrosse. He also won a few track medals at the Junior Olympics.

“He’s always been active and fast and excelled at every sport he played,” his mom, a former high school track athlete, says. “But he really fell in love with basketball.”

Flemings turned his focus to basketball in middle school. Shaydon, who is six years older than him, played hoops for Brennan High and McMurry University in Abilene, Texas. Both were coached by their father, Dee, who balled at Bloomfield College in New Jersey.

“I grew up with four siblings and played whatever sports my brother played,” Flemings says. “We were all competitive and part of a hard-working family. My dad is a firefighter, and my mom is a nurse, so we learned about the importance of hard work.”

As a senior at Brennan High, Flemings became the first San Antonio-area player to be named the Gatorade Texas Player of the Year since Shaquille O’Neal in 1989. Flemings was rated a consensus four-star recruit and the state’s top Class of 2025 prospect. He picked Houston over Texas Tech due to the program’s family culture and coach Kelvin Sampson’s history of developing guards and winning games.

Flemings was named a third-team Naismith All-American and played in the Jordan Brand Classic but was somewhat overshadowed in Houston’s recruiting class, which included two McDonald’s All-Americans in big man Chris Cenac Jr. and shooting guard Isiah Harwell. The Cougars returned three starters from last season’s Big 12 title team that fell to Florida in the national championship game, but there was a big hole to fill with top scorer LJ Cryer out of eligibility.

With his speed, explosiveness and offensive versatility, Flemings joined seniors Milos Uzan and Emanuel Sharp in the backcourt and became an All-American while setting the school’s freshman scoring record as Houston finished second in the uber-competitive Big 12. In mid-November, Flemings scored a game-high 22 points as the Cougars beat Auburn. A week later, Flemings scored 25 points in a loss to Tennessee at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas. 

In late January, he posted a 42-point performance — the highest-scoring game by a freshman in Houston history — in a loss at Texas Tech. In his next outing, Flemings had 27 points in a win over TCU.

“If you can play with the teams in this league, you can play with anybody in the country,” Sampson says. “And he can play with anybody.”

In addition to being named an All-American and unanimous first-team All-Big 12 selection, Flemings is also a finalist for the Wooden Award and Bob Cousy Award (nation’s top point guard). He’s certainly happy with his decision to sign with Houston.

“Coach Sampson is a great coach, and he’s helped me become a better man,” Flemings says. “We have a great culture, and being around hard-working people made the integration so much easier. I’m glad I chose Houston. I’m able to work hard every single day and be around coaches and players who have the right values, and I’ve learned things here that I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life.”

Flemings joined his dad and brother as the third member of the family to play college hoops. The family will add a fourth to the list next season as his sister Bella is a Duke signee who was recently named a McDonald’s All-American.

The closeness and blue-collar mentality of the Flemings family stood out to Sampson throughout the recruiting process. The veteran coach credited that upbringing with helping Flemings make the successful jump from high school to major college hoops. “When Kingston got here we kind of knew what we had because we had recruited him since he was 16,” Sampson says. “His character hasn’t changed. His approach to his everyday life hasn’t changed. He was raised the right way. He had an unbelievable mother and father. When we went over to the home visit, sitting there and watching that family dynamic, it was clear this was a special young man. He has no ego.”

After three straight losses against top-15 opponents Iowa State, Arizona and Kansas in mid-February, Sampson had a one-on-one meeting with Flemings. His star freshman averaged 18.3 points in those three games on 42-percent shooting, but recorded only 10 assists and 6 turnovers.

“He told me to be more of a leader and a better practice player,” Flemings says. “He wanted me to get back to being me and not trying to score so much and help get the offense into a good flow.”

That’s exactly what Flemings did to help the Cougars close the regular season with three straight wins against Colorado, Baylor and Oklahoma State. In those games, he averaged 15 points on 50-percent shooting with 24 assists and only 4 turnovers.

When asked by Hoops HQ about Flemings, Colorado coach Tad Boyle said he had grown and developed significantly since his time on the AAU circuit and described him as “an NBA player” and “the real deal.” His speed and acceleration reminds Baylor coach Scott Drew of Sacramento Kings guard Russell Westbrook.

“I think from the first day he got here we kind of all saw how special he is,” Uzan tells Hoops HQ.

Whenever his playing career is over, Flemings would like to get into coaching. He loves basketball that much. Flemings is also aware of all the talk about him potentially leaving school after this season for the NBA, as he’s projected to be selected No. 6 overall in Hoops HQ’s most recent mock draft.

But Flemings is focused on where he is now and just wants to be a blessing to his family, coaches and teammates. The ultimate blessing would be to help Houston, which begins NCAA Tournament play Thursday against 15th-seeded Idaho in Oklahoma City, bring home the program’s first national title.

“I’m just trying to be wherever my feet are and get better every single day,” he says. “I love this team and my teammates and my coaches. I can’t look forward to the future. We want to win a national championship, and that’s what is on my mind.”