Reggie Bennett

Reggie Bennett was born at Jefferson Hospital on September 14, 1970 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. When he was five years old, he moved to North Las Vegas, Nevada. His parents were Edward Bennett and Josephine McCauley. Later on his mother married Herbert McCauley. He had five brothers:George McCauley, Herbert McCauley Herman Pitts, Darryl Thomas and one younger brother named Eric McCauley.

As a child, Reggie loved to play football and it was Reggie’s dream to become a pro athlete. On June 9, 1983, at the age of 13, Reggie was shot and paralyzed while playing with friends. This is when Reggie’s life changed. He thought he would never be able to play sports again. Even after this tragic incident, Reggie continued to stay positive and active throughout his life.

He attended Rancho High School where he graduated in 1988. Rancho was also where he met the love of his life, Jo-Lene Jensen. After the birth of their daughter, Alexis Bennett, they got married on February 17, 1991 at L’Amour Chapelle in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Reggie always had a passion to help and inspire others. He worked as an advocate for many years under the Independent Living services. He had his own talk show called Navigating Independence in 1998. He then decided to open his non-profit in 2005 called Rebuilding All Goals Efficiently (R.A.G.E) Inc. As the Executive Director, he helped provide a higher quality of life for people with disabilities. R.A.G.E assisted with home and vehicle modifications as well as providing financial assistance. He retired from R.A.G.E in 2017.

Assisting others wasn’t Reggie’s only passion. He still had a passion for sports and learned to play wheelchair basketball, football, tennis, and bodybuilding. Reggie has had tremendous success competing in the exciting and challenging sport of competitive bodybuilding.

Reggie mastered the art of bodybuilding and has competed as an IFBB Pro Wheelchair Bodybuilder. He has competed in the 2016 and 2018 Arnold Classic in Columbus, OH as well as the first ever wheelchair division of the 2018 Mr. Olympia in Las Vegas. Reggie achieved numerous local and national amateur titles and placed in international professional competition. He has been featured in FLEX Magazine, Cover page of the NPC News Online Magazine along with a variety of posters for the ABA and periodicals for the Las Vegas View Newspaper and other Disability articles. In addition, he has been a guest poser for the Nevada Fitness Championship and interviewed by several sports journalists about fitness and bodybuilding.

He has been a fitness model for the NV Fitness Championship, GMC Motor's promotion for an adaptive vehicle, Universal Lift Systems, as well as many others and has done numerous interviews for sports journalists on bodybuilding and fitness, e.g., Sports N Spokes and Flex Magazine . He shared his adaptive sports ability and acumen in the course of his interaction, support, motivation and one-on-one training with many of his spinal cord injury clients.

Reggie Bennett passed away on Saturday, June 22, 2019. He is preceded in death by his father Edward Bennett and his brother Herman Pitts. He is survived by his wife, Jo-Lene Bennett, his daughter, Alexis Bennett, his soon to be son-in-law Chase Ives, his mother, Josephine McCauley, his brothers Herbert McCauley, George McCauley, Darryl Thomas, and Eric McCauley. As well as an abundance of Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Nieces and Nephews. Never too many, loved by plenty.