For the fifth time in recent years, retired educator Sue Wood of Russellville has visited friends in the Czech Republic this fall. This was the
fourth straight junket in which she was joined by her former classmate at Olmstead High School, Linda Sue Kemp Gibson. The women were part of the
OHS group that went to Greece in 2009 and sailed on the yacht owned by John Karay--husband of Cheryl Bond Karay. On that trip were Larry and Kathy
Dotson, Mary Florence Darby Harper, Jane Wilson Harper, Cheryl Bond Karay, Linda Sue Kemp Burbage (widow of Mike Burbage and last year married to
Jimmy Gibson) and Sue Downing Wood. Larry, Mary Florence, Jane, Cheryl, Linda Sue and Sue were all OHS Class of 65.
Sue, who is married to Dr. Dewey Wood and previously taught at Auburn and Logan County high schools, is the daughter of the late Harry Douglas and
Emily Downing. She is the sister of Mary Ann Downing and Jackie Powell (Larry’s wife). Linda Sue is the daughter of Johnnie and the late Jay Kemp.
She is the sister of Shirley Kemp Davenport (Jimmy’s wife). Sue’s first trip to the Czech Republic was with Karla Harper.
While in the Eastern Europe on this trip, the Russellville women spent time with Maurice ‘Squeaky’ Hampton, who helped the Russellville Panthers
reach two KHSAA state Final Fours and then played in the NCAA Tournament for Austin Peay. Hampton has been playing professional basketball in
Europe for five seasons, the past three in the Czech Republic.
Sue’s story follows:
Linda Sue Gibson and I were in Kosmonosy, Czech for 11 days and then went to Thessaloniki, Greece and surrounding locations for 11 days Sept. 15-Oct.
6. In Czech they stayed with Johnny and Lucie Kozisek and their two small children. He was an exchange student at LCHS and graduated in 1994. He lived
with Melvin and Bonnie Chambers while here. He was my student--that is how I became acquainted with him. Since 1994 I have visited them in Czech five
times and his parents have been here for one visit; his sister for one visit, and he and his wife and been here for one visit.
Squeaky Hampton plays with the Pardubice team in Pardubice, Czech Republic. After spending a day in beautiful Prague, we drove to Pardubice to the
exhibition game. We saw him play at an exhibition game with Hungary which they won--Squeaky scored 11 points but had 4 fouls so sat on bench several
minutes. After the game, Squeaky went to dinner with us along with Corey Muirhead, his wife Lauren and son Andreas. Cory played basketball for Western
Carolina and actually played WKU at Diddle Arena once. Anyway, we had nice meal together and I keep in touch with Lauren. Johnny and his brother have
attended another game in Kolin to see them play and had meal after with Cory and family.
Corey was born in Jamaica near Montego Bay and his family moved to Toronto in 1995. He played basketball at Western Carolina University from 2002-2006.
He played his first season overseas in Oberwart, Austria, After he and Laurin married, they moved to France where he played for Cholet, about 3.5 hours
west of Paris. After this he played in Switzerland for half a season before moving here to the Czech Republic and began playing for Novy Jicin until
this season. Lauren said, “We made the move to Pardubice this year. He is hoping to get a championship. He is very excited about being here and thinks
they have a great team that can go all the way.”
In the first seven games of the season, Squeaky averaged 21.9 minutes and 11.3 points, 46.2 percent FGM, 37 percent on three pointers, 86.7 percent on
free throw shooting, and 1.9 rebounds. People can keep up with him online at Pardubice, CZECH REPUBLIC basketball team
I asked him if they call him Squeaky or Maurice--the public announcer called him Maurice. He said players and coaches call him Squeaky. He is engaged
to be married and has a son living in Hopkinsville.
The week before we saw him, he was with the team on a road trip to Hungary (I think) and someone broke into his room and stole his laptop, passport,
keys to his car, etc. He had to go to American Embassy in Prague to get new passport.
Two years ago Squeaky was playing in Liberec, CZECH. I go there every time I visit there to buy blue Czech porcelain dishes. I knew he was there the
last time I was in Czech but failed to get a contact number before I left to contact him. This time Clarence Gamble put me in touch with Squeaky's
father Charles in Bowling Green, and I talked with him on the phone and got contact numbers.
Since we returned home, I received this message from Squeaky: “Our team is doing pretty good, we are in second place with a record of 7-2. We play
tomorrow on the road, so hopefully we can win that game as well! Thanks again for a wonderful time with you guys. I've seen Johnny one other time since
y’all left; he came to another game we had! My fiance came and stayed nine days here, and we had a great time together! I'll be coming home for
Christmas on December 18, but unfortunately I leave to come back on Christmas day! I'm really looking forward to spending these days with my son and
family!”
Before we arrived in Thessaloniki, Greece, I had been e-mailing (former WKU star) Sergio Kerusch, who plays with the Airis basketball team in
Thessaloniki. We really tried to connect but never did. He was out of town part of the time and then we were on day or overnight trips, so we never saw
each other but corresponded through e-mail. I saw the arena where he plays. Airis basketball is big and has great fan base. In fact, last year, the
friend of mine who lives in Thessaloniki sent me a cap and shirt with the Airis logo on it a year before Sergio signed to play there which was a
coincidence.
The friend in Greece is Panagiotis Tagaropoulos. He was our skipper when eight of us from here cruised the Greek Isles on John Karay's sailboat. John
is married to Cheryl Bond, daughter of James and Myrtle Bond and sister of Mark Bond, pastor at Adairville Baptist. Since meeting Panagiotis two years
ago, he visited us in January for three weeks and now we have visited him and his family. He is a professional sailing instructor and skipper and races
in sailboat races. In fact, he put Linda Sue and me down as members of his sailing race team and we got to be on onboard for a sailing race on Saturday
in the Aegean, departing from his Nautical Club. Great experience.
We had great experiences in Czech and Thessaloniki and surrounding country of Greece. In Kosmonosy, Czech where we stayed we toured the Skoda car
manufacturing plant. Skoda is only car made in Czech, and it is exported to over 90 countries and is a very good car in Europe. In my five trips there
we have seen so many beautiful castles nearby. It is called Bohemian Paradise because it is such beautiful, peaceful, quaint country.