Steve_Kaplan_(basketball)

Steve Kaplan (basketball)

Steve Kaplan (basketball)

American-Israeli basketball player

This article is about the basketball player. For the investor, see Steven Kaplan (investor).

Steven Mark Kaplan (סטיב קפלן) is an American-Israeli former basketball player and coach. Kaplan 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.

Quick Facts Personal information, Nationality ...

Early and personal life

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

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]

See also

References

  1. [1]
    Eskenazi, Gerald (February 9, 1974). "Israeli Quintet Boasts Fighting Spirit". The New York Times.
  2. [2]
    "Steve Kaplan College Stats". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.
  3. [3]
    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
  4. [4]
    Alexander Wolff (2010). Big Game, Small World; A Basketball Adventure
  5. [5]
    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."
  6. [6]
    "Israel Hoopsters to Play Villanova Team". Philadelphia Jewish Exponent. February 28, 1975. p. 23.
  7. [7]
    "33 U.S. Basketball Players Performing In Israel League". Jewish Post. May 4, 1979.
  8. [8]
    "Monmouth University Men's Basketball – Tom Kaplan". bluehawk.monmouth.edu.
  9. [9]
    "U.S. Cage Team For Maccabiah". Jewish Post. April 25, 1969.
  10. [10]
    "Tenth Maccabiah – Maccabiah 21".
  11. [11]
    "2013–14 Rutgers Men's Basketball Media Guide". Issuu.
  12. [12]
    "Ligat Ha'Al (Israel) – Points". World Hoopstats.
  13. [13]
    "Schedule & results; 1979 European Championship for Men". Archive.fiba.com.
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