Ralph Klein (coach)
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| Medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Competitor for  Israel |
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| Men’s Basketball | |||
| European Championships | |||
| Silver | 1979 Italy | Team Competition | |
Ralph Klein (Hebrew: רלף קליין, born 29 July 1931) is a renowned Israeli former basketball player and coach.
[edit] Biography
Klein was born is Berlin, Weimar Republic in 1931, to an affluent Hungarian Jewish family which returned to Budapest before the break of World War II. His father died in Auschwitz but he and his family survived,[1] thanks to efforts by Raoul Wallenberg.
After the war, at the age of 16, he began playing football but later switched to basketball and played in the Hungarian national league. In 1951 he immigrated to Israel with his mother. After serving in the Israeli Sea Corps, he joined Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C., for whom he would play more than 160 games, score 2,701 points and win eight state championships and six state cups.[1] He was also a member of the Israeli under-21 team in the 1952 tournament. He also played 68 games for the Israel national basketball team.[1]
He began his coaching career in 1964. In 1970 he was appointed for Maccabi Tel Aviv, with whom he won 14 championships and the European title in 1977. As coach of the national basketball team, he won second place in the EuroBasket in 1979 and in 1981 and sixth place in 1983. In 1983, he unexpectedly announced his appointment as the coach for the Germany national basketball team and for BSC Saturn Koln, a position he held until 1985.[1]
In 2006 he was awarded the Israel Prize for lifetime achievement along with former goalkeeper Ya'akov Hodorov.[1] In 2007 he was diagnosed as suffering from Colorectal cancer and was believed to be on his deathbed.[2] However, his health improved and he even went back to coaching.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e Alon, Moshe. "Legendary sportsmen Chodorov, Klein win Israel Prize", Jerusalem Post, 2006-05-02. Retrieved on 2008-03-18.
- ^ טל, רונן. ""אני גוסס ולמכבי לא אכפת"", גלובס. Retrieved on 2008-03-18. (Hebrew)
- ^ aviww11 (Contributor). ראיון עם רלף קליין. Retrieved on 2008-03-18. Event occurs at 27 seconds.
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