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Ralph Klein
	Ralph Klein, 2006
Personal information
Born	July 29, 1931; Berlin, Germany
Died	August 7, 2008 (aged 77); Tel HaShomer, Israel
Nationality	Hungarian / Israeli
Listed height	6 ft 3.75 in (1.92 m)
Career information
Playing career	1952–1964
Position	Shooting guard
Coaching career	1964–2008
Career history
As player:
1952–1964	Maccabi Tel Aviv
As coach:
1964–1965	Hapoel Gan Shmuel
1965–1966	Hapoel Haifa
1967–1968	Hapoel Tel Aviv
1969–1972	Maccabi Tel Aviv
1972–1973	Hapoel Jerusalem
1974–1975	Hapoel Haifa
1975–1980	Maccabi Tel Aviv
1977–1983	Israel
1981–1983	Maccabi Tel Aviv
1983–1986	Saturn Köln
1983–1987	West Germany
1987–1988	Maccabi Tel Aviv
1991	Hapoel Gvat
1992–1993	Hapoel Tel Aviv
1995	Maccabi Tel Aviv
1996	Hapoel Eilat
1997	Hapoel Holon
1998	Maccabi Netanya
2006–2008	Elizur Elkana
Career highlights and awards
	As player: 8× Israeli League champion (1954, 1955, 1957–1959, 1962–1964); 6× Israeli State Cup winner (1956, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1964); As head coach: EuroLeague champion (1977); German Cup champion (1983); 11× Israeli League champion (1970–1972, 1976–1980, 1982, 1983, 1988, 1995); 10× Israeli State Cup winner (1970–1972, 1977–1980, 1982, 1983, 1993); Israel Prize (2006);
Representing Israel
Men's Basketball
FIBA EuroBasket

Ralph Klein, also known as Rafael "Ralph" Ram (Hebrew: רלף קליין July 29, 1931 – August 7, 2008) was an Israeli professional basketball player and coach. In Israel, he was known as "Mr. Basketball".

Early life

Klein was born in Berlin, during the time of the Weimar Republic, to an affluent Hungarian Jewish family, that returned to Budapest, before the outbreak of World War II. His father was murdered in Auschwitz, but he and his family survived^[1] thanks to efforts by Raoul Wallenberg.

Basketball playing career

Club career

After the war, at the age of 16, Klein began playing football, 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, he joined Maccabi Tel Aviv, 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.^[1]

National team career

Klein was also a member of the senior Israel national basketball team. With Israel's senior national team, he played at the 1952 Summer Olympic Games, and at the 1954 edition of the FIBA World Cup. He also played at the 1953, 1959, 1961, and 1963 editions of the FIBA EuroBasket. He also played at the 1960 Pre-Olympic Tournament. In total, Klein played in 68 games with the senior Israeli national team.^[1]

Basketball coaching career

Clubs

Klein began his coaching career in 1964. In 1969, he was appointed as head coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv, with which he won 10 Israeli Super League championships, 9 Israeli State Cups, and the FIBA European Champions Cup (EuroLeague) 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.

National teams

As head coach 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.^[1]

Klein led the West German national team to an eighth-place finish at the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, and to a fifth-place finish at the 1985 EuroBasket, which was held on West German home soil.

Personal life

In 2007, Klein was diagnosed as suffering from colorectal cancer, and he was believed to be on his deathbed.^[2] However, his health improved and he even went back to coaching.^[3]

He died of cancer on August 7, 2008, at Sheba Medical Center, in Tel HaShomer.^[4]

Awards

In 1978, he was awarded the Herzl Prize for sports. In 2006, Klein was awarded the Israel Prize for sport,^[5]^[6] along with former football goalkeeper Ya'akov Hodorov.^[1]

Commemoration

In 2010, the filming of "Playoff" began, a movie based on Klein's life story, and directed by Israeli movie director, Eran Riklis.^[7]
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, 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".