GoFundMe made for 2001 Lady Bear Final Four team member

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Missouri State Lady Bears legend Cheryl Burnett says she still remembers the moment she saw Kinga Kiss-Johnson.

“I’ll never forget being at the Missouri State games and in walks a 6’7″ player playing on a Missouri junior college team that I did not know. Kinga had just come into the country as an international student, and we recruited her out of there,” Burnett said. “At 6’7″, she was able to play a very specific role for us when we played against very big post players. Kinga was going to be a stopper.”

Kiss-Johnson was a role player in the Lady Bears’ 2001 Final Four team and played in maroon and white in 2002.

“We always consider her, our staff, our coaches, our players, part of the very big Lady Bear family, and even though I’m not coaching Kinga anymore and we’ve stayed in touch all these years,” Burnett said.

Burnett’s not kidding when she says she stays in touch.

Burnett is able to detail Kiss-Johnson’s career post-basketball too.

“When she finished at Missouri State, she wanted to give back to the United States and went into the U.S. Army and was in Afghanistan, in a semi-truck and they hit a landmine and Kinga became a wounded warrior,” Burnett said. “She had a brain injury. They suggested she do archery, of which she’d never done archery before, and she was half a step from making the Paralympics.”

When Hurricane Helene tore through part of the east coast and ravaged both North and South Carolina, Burnett remembered her towering post presence lived in that area.

“When the hurricane went through, I looked on the map and noticed that McCormick, South Carolina is right south diagonally of Boone, North Carolina,” Burnett said. “They received those 100 to 120 mile per hour winds, some of the strongest winds in the entire hurricane.”

She says she was only able to get ahold of Kiss-Johnson once or twice a day.

“Come to find out they were some of the worst hit in terms of the electricity there. She had no water, no electricity, no gas to try to go anywhere. Structurally, their house was not hit like some of the floods of Tennessee and North Carolina [but] their home may be not livable,” Burnett said. “Their food was spoiled. No food. Her medical situation was such that some of her meds were ruined because they had to be refrigerated. So it was a bit of a desperate situation.”

Burnett has coached the Lady Bears in two Final Fours and amassed over 350 wins, and yet, this week she did something she’s never done before.

She made a GoFundMe for Kiss-Johnson and her husband Bill.

“I asked Kinga permission to do that GoFundMe, and she’s so humble, she said, ‘Coach, there are more people with far greater needs than Bill and I have,’ Burnett said. “I was trying to help with the electricity. I said I went online and said that I was [Kiss-Johnson’] mother. It was much easier than trying to explain that I was a basketball coach and she texted back and said, ‘you will always be my mother’.”

At the time this story was written, the GoFundMe had raised nearly $2000.

“Lady Bear nation is stepping up to help, and they just need to get a little financial boost right now to get out of the situation they’re in,” Burnett added.

Former Team Manager Brad Coy remembers Kiss-Johnson on that ’01 team.

“We were one of the main support staff roles that just did a lot of anything and everything to support the entire coaching staff,” Coy said. “If I’m correct, I think thinking Kinga at least was and I believe is the tallest player we were able to ever been able to recruit in the program. That height was elusive in the women’s game for sure.”

Coy says in a team clearly led by a dominant Jackie Stiles en route to the NCAA scoring record at the time, Kiss-Johnson still had a major role in that season.

“We were super, super excited. To take a little bit of the pressure and the heat off of Jackie and Carly and Melody and our entire team, [Kiss-Johnson] did that really, really well,” Coy said. “Her personality was good. Again, very adaptable, very flexible. Just an awesome human. She would do just about anything for her teammates and her coaching staff, and she really was trying to make the most of the opportunity to play for a high-level, NCAA D-1 basketball program.”

Coy says it’s not a surprise that Kiss-Johnson went into the military after basketball.

“She certainly always had a pay it forward or pay it back mindset,” Coy said.

Coy adds the time given to her community, especially her country, it’s refreshing to see the community stepping up to give back.

“Kinga is just one of many [players on the ’01 team], but still a unique and special person that built the program for what it is that provided us and the community and the staff and just all the ancillary people around what happened. You know, a remarkably legendary journey right? It took all of the contributions, and Kinga is just that equal,” Coy said. “If you look back on those memories, you know, the wins, the losses, just the fun that the program provided, the community, it was really ahead of its time. From a women’s basketball standpoint, hopefully giving whatever you can back to her in these ways as life has impacted her in this not-so-wonderful way, you know, I think she’s earned it in a way.”

Missouri State women’s basketball legend Jackie Stiles also had great things to say about her former teammate.

“Kinga has always been an incredible teammate. She’s been a true inspiration, not only to me but to many others, through the way she has faced adversity with such strength and courage!” said Jackie Stiles. “She has a remarkable ability to turn challenges into opportunities for good. Our greatness is not measured by what we have, but by what we give, and that’s exactly who Kinga is. I hope everyone will support her in her time of need, just as she has given so much to others.”

“[Kinga] was 6’ 7” tall and an excellent shot blocker & rebounder who proved to be very valuable for the Lady Bears in both of her 2 seasons. She was from Romania,” said said former MSU AD Bill Rowe. “Following her graduation from Missouri State, she joined the U.S. Army and served the USA proudly. During her service, she was deployed to Afghanistan & she was seriously injured through a land mine explosion and has had numerous operations since that time. She now has to have a service dog. “Coach Cheryl Burnett has been staying in touch with her when possible and I am glad to join Coach in asking for your financial assistance to a GoFundMe account on behalf of Kinga and husband Bill.  Any amount is appreciated and is very need-worthy.”

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