Chicago native Jerome Randle recalls playing basketball in Ukraine before Russian invasion
CHICAGO (CBS) -- For Chicago native Jerome Randle, the war in Ukraine hit very close to home. The Hales Franciscan graduate was in his second stint playing professionally there and even represented the country on their national team.
He was there as the Russian invasion was about to start before he made it back to United States and is telling his story to CBS 2's Matt Zahn.
Matt: "Take me through what the last couple weeks were like for you playing basketball in Ukraine."
Randle: "The last couple weeks were an emotional rollercoaster I would say. An emotional rollercoaster because we obviously received the news from friends and family, news reports, Instagram.
When other Americans went home, Jerome traveled with the Ukrainian national team to play in Spain. That's when, as he put it, everything hit the fan.
"You just saw the emotions from all the Ukrainian players. I had chills running through my body in that game on the 24th after playing against Spain," Randle said, "The standing ovation and just all the respect and love that they showed, you know the Ukrainian culture, and i was a part of that. Being from the South Side of Chicago, I feel like I was a part of history in a way. Obviously it was bad history but it was history."
"All of my belongings are in Ukraine, like everything. You know, so I left everything behind because I was supposed to go back and get my things, and head back to the United states, but I can't. Everything is there, So I'm like okay for get that. Forget those things I don't need em. My life is way more important than shoes, and clothes, and things like that. So I actually left Madrid two days after the last game."
Matt: "You must know so many people going through so much right now?"
Randle: I do. I've built a lot of relationships in that country. I do have teammates in Ukraine as of right now and a lot of those guys are struggling right now."
"Right now me and my teammates, the Americans, We're trying to figure out a way to send them money, make sure they can eat and take care of families. And we had a really good team. We was working for a championship. We can't compete for a championship, but we can definitely still be champions and help each other, help them get safe passage with their families."
Randle wants to go back to Ukraine at some point to do what he can to help the people of a country that he says gave him a platform and opportunity to play the game he loves.
Randle is currently in California and hopes to return to Ukraine someday, but for now he's very grateful to be back home.