Hosta

by | Mar 16, 2018 | Hosta

How Can We Help?
You are here:
< Back

Joel Bruce Kramer (born October 30, 1955) is a retired American professional basketball player. Listed at 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 m) and 203 pounds (92 kg), he played the power forward and center positions. After playing college basketball at San Diego State University, he had a five-season career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1978–1983 with the Phoenix Suns.

Early life

Kramer was born in San Diego, California, and is Jewish.[1][2][3] He attended Patrick Henry High School in San Diego.[1] There, he played for the basketball team and was League Player of the Year and All-California Interscholastic Federation his senior season.[4]

Basketball career

Kramer played college basketball on a basketball scholarship at San Diego State University, during which he averaged 9.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, while shooting .521 from the field.[1] After recovering from a broken foot, he averaged over 9 rebounds per game his last two seasons.[5] In 1977–78, he set a school consecutive free throw record of 33.[6] As a senior, he was named 1978 Pacific Coast Athletic Association Player of the Year.[4][5]

He played basketball for Team USA at the 1977 Maccabiah Games, winning a gold medal.[4]

Kramer was selected with the 19th pick of the third round by the Phoenix Suns in the 1978 NBA draft.[1] He had a five-year career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1978–1983, primarily at center and power forward.[1] In his rookie season, he played in 82 games, tying for the NBA lead, and in 1980–81 he was third in the NBA with 82 games played.[1]

After playing for the Suns, Kramer continued his playing career in Israel with Maccabi Tel Aviv, for whom he played for just a few months after signing for a reported $100,000 a year.[7][8] He was released in January 1984.[8]

Post-playing career

Kramer was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1993.[4] He was inducted into the San Diego Aztecs Hall of Fame in 1997.[5]

Kramer has held executive roles with CBIZ, an American accounting and financial services firm, working as the managing director of the Phoenix office's tax division as of October 2022.[9]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f Joel Kramer Stats | Basketball-Reference.com
  2. ^ Day by Day in Jewish Sports History – Bob Wechsler
  3. ^ The 100 Greatest Jews in Sports: Ranked According to Achievement – B. P. Robert Stephen Silverman
  4. ^ a b c d Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame Home
  5. ^ a b c GoAztecs.com
  6. ^ "BYU Hands the Aztecs a Bitter Loss: College basketball: SDSU's conference opener slips away in the second half. Cougars win, 73–61." – latimes
  7. ^ AJHS honors state's Jewish athletes Archived 2011-06-09 at the Wayback Machine, January 5, 2001
  8. ^ a b "Tel Aviv Basketball Team Releases Highly Touted Player from the U.S." | Jewish Telegraphic Agency
  9. ^ "Joel B. Kramer". cbiz.com. Retrieved October 31, 2022.

External links

Categories
Table of Contents