American-Israeli basketball player
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 .
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
^ 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 .