Bohumil Modrý (24 September 1916 – 21 July 1963) was a goaltender for the
Czechoslovakia men's national ice hockey team
The Czechoslovakia men's national ice hockey team was the national ice hockey team of Czechoslovakia, and competed from 1920 until 1992. The successor to the Bohemia national ice hockey team, which ...
which won the silver medal at the
1948 Olympics 1948 Olympics may refer to:
*The 1948 Winter Olympics
The 1948 Winter Olympics, officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games (german: V. Olympische Winterspiele; french: Ves Jeux olympiques d'hiver; it, V Giochi olimpici invernali; rm, V Gi ...
and the 2 gold medals - at the
1947 World Championship and at the
1949 World Championship.
Modrý played his club hockey with
LTC Praha
LTC (Lawn Tennis Club) Praha was a Czech ice hockey club founded in 1903 in Prague.
The main sport in this club was originally tennis, with hockey being a minor sport; hockey at the time rather meaning bandy
Bandy is a winter sport and ba ...
(LTC Prague), which suffered four defections at the
1948 Spengler Cup in
Davos. He was still a player with LTC Praha, and travelling as a delegate with the
1950 Czechoslovakia national team in March, when he and his teammates were arrested by the
communist authorities. Czech national team has been stopped (Saturday, Mar-11) at the
Prague Airport
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
while preparing to travel to London to defend their title at the
1950 World Championship tournament (reason: reporter's visas, but it was lie). On Monday Mar-13 they have been arrested after party on Mar-12. Party was provide in the "Gold Pub", U Herclíků, Pštrossova 192/24, 110 00 Praha 1 – Nové Město and personally Modrý was not there. They were frustrated and in the pub they hates communist party (but secret police - STB - was there also). Some of them were charged with making plans to defect to the West. In October 1950 Modrý and ten other players were convicted of treason . Modrý received the longest sentence, 15 years in prison, as the supposed leader of the potential defection plan (together - 11 people ~ 74 years and 8 months).
Modrý served his prison time in
Pankrác Prison
Pankrác Prison, officially Prague Pankrác Remand Prison (''Vazební věznice Praha Pankrác'' in Czech), is a prison in Prague, Czech Republic. A part of the Czech Prison Service, it is located southeast of Prague city centre in Pankrác, not f ...
in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
and
Bory Prison in
Plzeň. He also served some of his time as a forced laborer in the uranium mines in
Jáchymov
Jáchymov (); german: Sankt Joachimsthal or ''Joachimsthal'') is a spa town in Karlovy Vary District in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,300 inhabitants.
The historical core of the town from the 16th century is wel ...
.
Modrý served 5 years of the 15 year sentence, dying in his hometown of Prague 8 years after his release (1955) from incarceration.
Tal Pinchevsky, ''Breakaway: From Behind the Iron Curtain to the NHL''
(John Wiley & Sons, 2012) pp36-38
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Modry, Bohumil
1916 births
1963 deaths
Ice hockey players at the 1948 Winter Olympics
IIHF Hall of Fame inductees
Medalists at the 1948 Winter Olympics
Olympic ice hockey players of Czechoslovakia
Olympic medalists in ice hockey
Olympic silver medalists for Czechoslovakia
People convicted of treason against Czechoslovakia
Ice hockey people from Prague