Steve Kaplan (basketball)
Steve Kaplan (סטיב קפלן) is an American-Israeli former basketball player, who played 14 seasons in the Israel Basketball Premier League.[1] He played the forward position.[2] He is 8th all-time in career points in the league.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality | American / Israeli | ||||||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school | Collingswood (Collingswood, New Jersey) | ||||||||||||||
| College | Rutgers (1969–1972) | ||||||||||||||
| NBA draft | 1972: undrafted | ||||||||||||||
| Position | Forward | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
| ?–? | Hapoel Ramat Gan | ||||||||||||||
Medals
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Early and personal life edit
Kaplan is Jewish, and has dual American-Israeli citizenship.[3][1] He grew up in Collingswood, New Jersey[4] and played prep basketball at Collingswood High School.[5] He is 6' 6" (198 cm) tall.[2] He served in the Israel Defense Forces, moved to Ramat Gan, Israel, and is married to Israeli-born Irit Kaplan.[6][4][7][8] His son Tom Kaplan played for the Israel 17-under national basketball team, and attended Monmouth University.[8]
Basketball career edit
Kaplan played basketball for Team USA in the 1969 Maccabiah Games winning a silver medal alongside Ronald Green, Jack Langer, and Neal Walk, and for Team Israel in the 1977 Maccabiah Games.[9][10]
He attended Rutgers University-New Brunswick ('72).[1] Kaplan was captain of the Rutgers basketball team in his senior year.[1] In his Rutgers career, he averaged 16.4 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, with a 48.2 field goal percentage and an 88.8 free throw percentage (the second-highest in school history).[2][11] His .927 free throw percentage in 1989–90 is the highest in Rutgers history.[11]
Kaplan played 14 seasons of professional basketball in Israel with Hapoel Ramat Gan, in the Israel Basketball Premier League.[4][12] He is 8th all-time in career points in the league, with 5,913.[12]
He also played on the Israeli national basketball team, and competed in EuroBasket 1979, in which the Israeli national team won the silver medal, its greatest achievement of all time.[13]
After his basketball career, Kaplan became the director of logistics for a chemical company.[4]
References edit
- ^ a b c d Eskenazi, Gerald (February 9, 1974). "Israeli Quintet Boasts Fighting Spirit". The New York Times.
- ^ a b c "Steve Kaplan College Stats". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.
- ^ Michael Bar-Eli and Yair Galily (January 2005). "From Tal Brody to. European Champions: Early Americanization and the“Golden Age”", Journal of Sport History, 32(3): 401–422
- ^ a b c d Alexander Wolff (2010). Big Game, Small World; A Basketball Adventure
- ^ Frambes, Doug. "Colls Rock Rancocas", Courier-Post, March 3, 1967. Accessed November 23, 2020. "Again Collingswood prospered from a splendid team effort. Steve Kaplan (6-6) led the scoring with 23 points and did yeoman work off both backboards."
- ^ "Israel Hoopsters to Play Villanova Team". Philadelphia Jewish Exponent. February 28, 1975. p. 23.
- ^ "33 U.S. Basketball Players Performing In Israel League". Jewish Post. May 4, 1979.
- ^ a b "Monmouth University Men's Basketball – Tom Kaplan". bluehawk.monmouth.edu.
- ^ "U.S. Cage Team For Maccabiah". Jewish Post. April 25, 1969.
- ^ "Tenth Maccabiah – Maccabiah 21".
- ^ a b "2013–14 Rutgers Men's Basketball Media Guide". Issuu.
- ^ a b "Ligat Ha'Al (Israel) – Points". World Hoopstats.
- ^ "Schedule & results; 1979 European Championship for Men". Archive.fiba.com.