Former UF basketball star Lee Humphrey poses during a protest outside a barricade in downtown Kyiv during his professional playing days in Ukraine.
'They're Prideful People'
Tuesday, March 1, 2022 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Three student fans in the lower bowl of Stegeman Coliseum Saturday morning watched in amazement. The guy in the untucked Gator polo and faded jeans on the court by himself was dropping 3-pointer after 3-pointer. So impressed was the trio, all donned in Georgia gear, they collectively held up hands and counted the consecutive makes out loud. Several times they needed both hands.
Four! … Five! … Six! … Seven! …
"You should give that guy a uniform!" shouted one.
If only, right?
As it turns out, Lee Humphrey used up his eligibility 15 years ago. Suffice to say the former UF standout shooting guard made the most of his collegiate experience. The gawkers in the seats turned drop-jawed when informed the sniper on the floor was the all-time 3-pointer shooter in NCAA Tournament history and member of the last team to win back-to-back national championships. When he'd launched enough to break a sweat, the 37-year-old Humphrey -- who teamed alongside Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Taurean Green to wear those 2006-07 NCAA crowns for Coach Billy Donovan— went and took a mid-court seat next to Mick Hubert and proceeded to call the Gators' victory over the Bulldogs.
"I think my favorite part is being as close to the action as you can be without being a player or a coach," said Humphrey, who scored 1,080 points and left UF as the program's all-time leader in 3-point shooting percentage (.444), second all-time in mades 3s, and — most importantly — college basketball's all-time leader with 46.1-percent shooting in 15 NCAA tournament games. "You can kind of relive your past life."
That's Lee Humphrey imugging n the front row with a few of his friends who partnered for two pretty good seasons of Florida basketball back in 2006 and '07.
Though Humphrey has been calling games over the last four seasons, this is technically his first as full-time color analyst for Gator Radio Network broadcasts. He took a few turns as a rookie broadcaster during 2018-19 and '19-20, rotating with Mark Wise and Bill Koss. He got the full-time nod for the '20-21 season, but a the bulk of those games were called remotely due to COVID-19 restrictions.
This season, Humphrey has been on the mic with Mick every game, with that run continuing Tuesday night when the Gators (18-11, 8-8) take on Vanderbilt (14-14, 6-10) in their regular-season road finale at Memorial Coliseum.
[Read senior writer Chris Harry's "Pregame Stuff" setup here]
"I think Mick and I have developed some pretty good chemistry," Humphrey said. "I try to watch the games now more from a holistic, coaches' perspective versus as a player who is on the court and has to focus on so much and be in tune with his role. As a broadcaster, I try to capture the atmosphere and flow of the game; look for the bigger picture and trends." How do say "Humphrey" in Ukrainian. Like this.
Lately, Humphrey's interest in those latter two elements — "the bigger picture and trends" — has expanded to some goings-on away from the basketball court. When Humphrey, a two-time SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year, graduated from UF in 2007, he embarked on a seven-year professional career overseas that took him to teams in eight different countries.
One of them was Ukraine.
In 2014, Humphrey was a member of BC Kyiv. That's BC, as in "Basketball Club of." He was one of three Americans on the team that traveled throughout the country and played in its largest cities: Lviv, Odessa, Mykolaiv, Donetsk, Mariupol, to name a few.
Humphrey's signed with the team in the summer 2013, following stints in Greece, Poland, Germany and France. In time, his international career would take Humphrey to Hungary and Lithuania, but he liked Ukraine — its history, culture and beauty — the best of them all.
He and wife Chelsea, then married for three years, moved into an apartment in the middle of Kyiv, the nation's capital, about a mile from Maiden Square, home to then Ukrainian president and not far from parliament. At that time, the president was Viktor Yanukovych. It had been more than two decades since the fall of the Soviet Union, but Yanukovych was a pro-Russian leader who was trending the country back in that direction, like Belarus, while the Ukrainian people were basically split 50-50 on their political allegiances.
Half favored their sovereignty, and that half often made it known in the form of civil unrest.
"I would say protesting and revolution is in Ukraine's DNA," Humphrey said.
Ukrainian and American flags fly over a protest sight near the Humphrey's apartment.
That much has been proven over the last week, but eight years ago the dissent first came in the form of protests, which were a constant in Kyiv. The Humphreys saw them daily, even attended some and took up with the locals. A giant, protestor-built barricade was a mainstay on the city's main thoroughfare for months.
Sometimes, Humphrey and his two American teammates would stroll the area. Rare were the times they were recognized as the local basketball stars.
"We weren't exactly the Knicks," he said.
In January of 2014, anti-government demonstrations turned violent in downtown Kyiv, with on-and-off rioting over two months leaving 98 dead and more than 15,000 injured — all of it mere blocks from the Humphrey's apartment. In late-February, Yanukovych was ousted as president, with an election scheduled for May to choose his successor. In the interim, Russian president Vladimir Putin took the aggressive action of annexing Crimea, a large, strategic peninsula with the access to the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, and reclaimed it as part of his country. Ukraine elected Petro Poroshenko, who upon his inauguration sought to re-establish ties with Europe.
This all coincided with the separatists movements in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions to the east, bordering Russia. It was the beginning of what helped pave the way for Putin's invasion of the country last week and Ukraine's courageous resistance — for now — under President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was elected in 2019. The fighting and bloodshed is about to get much worse.
Now living in Jacksonville, the Humphreys have three young children and have watched the events unfold with a unique perspective. They're sad. They left pieces of their lives there. They left legacies there; Lee wearing the uniform of the homeland and Chelsea as a tutor who taught English to working professionals.
They ache for the people and for the place they once called home.
Lee and Chelsea Humphrey at a 2013 New Year's Eve party in downtown Kyiv.
"It's something we can't even imagine with the life we have in the U.S.," Humphrey said. "Ukraine is not a third-world country, but it's a developing country that is trying to come back from the crushing blow of communism and rule of the Soviet Union for all those years. They're prideful people, with strong heritage and culture. They want their freedom, their independence and a chance to thrive. It doesn't surprise me that they haven't backed down."
Humphrey felt that perseverance eight years ago, first-hand, and tried to return the favor, even if it was just in playing a game he loved.
"What the country was going through, I felt a connection," Humphrey said. "I was playing basketball, but it was entertainment for the people there. I wanted to give it everything I had. I still feel something of that connection today."
