Ralph Klein, also known as Rafael "Ralph" Ram (; July 29, 1931 – August 7, 2008) was an Israeli professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

. In Israel, he was known as "Mr. Basketball".

Early life

Klein was born in Berlin, during the time of the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

, to an affluent

Hungarian Jewish The history of the Jews in Hungary dates back to at least the Kingdom of Hungary, with some records even predating the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895 CE by over 600 years. Written sources prove that Jewish communities lived i ...

family, that returned to

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, before the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. His father was murdered in

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

, but he and his family survived thanks to efforts by

Raoul Wallenberg Raoul Gustaf Wallenberg (4 August 1912 – disappeared 17 January 1945)He is presumed to have died in 1947, although the circumstances of his death are not clear and this date has been disputed. Some reports claim he was alive years later. In ...

Basketball playing career

Club career

After the war, at the age of 16, Klein began playing

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, but later moved to basketball, and played in the Hungarian national league. In 1951, he immigrated to Israel, with his mother. After serving in the

Israeli navy The Israeli Navy (, ''Ḥeil HaYam HaYisraeli'', ; ) is the Israel Defense Forces#Arms, naval warfare service arm of the Israel Defense Forces, operating primarily in the Mediterranean Sea theater as well as the Gulf of Eilat and the Red Sea th ...

, he joined

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv () is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such as football, basketball, j ...

, with which he played in more than 160 games, through 1964. With Maccabi Tel Aviv, he scored 2,701 total points, and won eight Israeli Super League national championships and six Israeli State Cups.

National team career

Klein was also a member of the senior

Israel national basketball team The Israel men's national basketball team () represents Israel in international basketball tournaments. They are administered by the Israeli Basketball Association. Israel is currently ranked 39th in the FIBA Men's World Ranking, FIBA World Ran ...

. With Israel's senior national team, he played at the 1952 Summer Olympic Games, and at the 1954 edition of the

FIBA World Cup The FIBA Basketball World Cup is an international basketball competition between the senior men's national teams of the members of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the sport's global governing body. It takes place every four ye ...

. He also played at the

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

, and

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

editions of the

FIBA EuroBasket EuroBasket, also commonly referred to as the European Basketball Championship, is the main international basketball competition that is contested quadrennially, by the senior men's national teams that are governed by FIBA Europe, which is the E ...

. He also played at the 1960 Pre-Olympic Tournament. In total, Klein played in 68

games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...

with the senior Israeli national team.

Basketball coaching career

Clubs

Klein began his

coaching Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...

career in 1964. In 1969, he was appointed as

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

, with which he won 10 Israeli Super League championships, 9 Israeli State Cups, and the

FIBA European Champions Cup The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

(

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

) championship of the 1976–77 season. He also coached the German League club Saturn Köln, and he won another Israeli State Cup title with

Hapoel Tel Aviv Hapoel Tel Aviv () is a sports club in Israel, founded in the 1920s, and part of the Hapoel association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as football, basketball, w ...

National teams

of the senior Israeli national team, Klein won a silver medal at the 1979 EuroBasket, and also finished in sixth place at the 1981 EuroBasket and the 1983 EuroBasket. In 1983, he unexpectedly announced his appointment as the head coach of the senior West German national team. Klein led the West German national team to an eighth-place finish at the

1984 Summer Olympic Games The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

, and to a fifth-place finish at the

1985 EuroBasket The 1985 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1985, was the 24th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It took place from 5 to 16 June 1985 in West Germany. The Soviet Union defeated Czec ...

, which was held on West German home soil.

Personal life

In 2007, Klein was diagnosed as suffering from

colorectal cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the Colon (anatomy), colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include Lower gastrointestinal ...

, and he was believed to be on his deathbed. However, his health improved and he even went back to coaching. He died of cancer on August 7, 2008, at

Sheba Medical Center Chaim Sheba Medical Center at Tel HaShomer (), also known as Tel HaShomer Hospital, is the largest hospital in Israel, located in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan in the Tel HaShomer neighborhood, Israel. In 2025, ''Newsweek'' ranked it as ...

, in

Tel HaShomer Tel HaShomer (, ''lit.'' Hill of the Guardsman) or Kiryat Krinitzi is a neighborhood in Ramat Gan, Israel. It borders Kiryat Ono in the north, Yehud in the east, and Or Yehuda in the south. A major Israel Defense Forces base and the Sheba Medical ...

Awards

In 1978, he was awarded the Herzl Prize for sports. In 2006, Klein was awarded the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize (; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History Prior to the Israel Prize, the most significant award in the arts was the Dizengoff Prize and in Israel ...

for sport, along with former football

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Ya'akov Hodorov Ya'akov "Yankele" Hodorov (; 16 June 1927 – 31 December 2006) was an Israeli football goalkeeper in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. He is one Israel's best goalkeepers of all time and the leading goalkeeper of his generation. Football career Hod ...

Commemoration

* In 2010, the filming of "

Playoff The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

" began, a movie based on Klein's life story, and directed by Israeli movie director,

Eran Riklis Eran Riklis (; born October 2, 1954) is an Israeli filmmaker. His films include Cup Final (film), ''Cup Final'' (1991), ''The Syrian Bride'' (2004), Lemon Tree (2008 film), ''Lemon Tree'' (2008) and ''Dancing Arabs'' (also known as ''A Borrowed I ...

.Yoav Borowitz
Sports / Shooting off the mark

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

, 17 November 2011 * Israeli basketball team, Elitzur Elkana, whom Klein coached towards the end of his life, is named after the veteran Israeli coach (Elizur "Ralph Klein" Elkanah). The basketball team also wrote a

Sefer Torah file:SeferTorah.jpg, A Sephardic Torah scroll rolled to the first paragraph of the Shema file:Köln-Tora-und-Innenansicht-Synagoge-Glockengasse-040.JPG, An Ashkenazi Torah scroll rolled to the Decalogue file:Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue, Inte ...

, in the name and honor of Klein. *The veterans group of Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team commemorates the achievements and memory of Ralph Klein, and since his death, it is named "Maccabi Ralph Klein Tel Aviv".

References

External links

FIBA Archive Player Profile 1
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Ralph 1931 births 2008 deaths Basketball players at the 1952 Summer Olympics BSC Saturn Köln coaches Deaths from colorectal cancer in Israel EuroLeague–winning coaches Hungarian basketball coaches Hungarian emigrants to Israel Jewish Hungarian sportspeople Hungarian men's basketball players Israeli basketball coaches Israeli Basketball Premier League players Israeli men's basketball players Israeli people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Israel Prize in sport recipients Jewish basketball players Men's basketball players Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. players Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. coaches Olympic basketball players for Israel Basketball players from Berlin Basketball players from Tel Aviv Shooting guards 1954 FIBA World Championship players 20th-century Hungarian sportsmen 20th-century Israeli sportsmen