Joel Kramer’s dad was a founding member of the now defunct Congregation Beth Tefillah on 69th street right off El Cajon Boulevard.
Childhood summers were spent at the local Jewish Community Center and in his parents’ home, meals were kosher, meaning cheese wasn’t to be melted on burgers and in moments of youthful indiscretion, pepperoni pizza brought in from outside was to be eaten on a paper plate.
Presenting a similar problem to the cooking of meat with milk, during Kramer’s rookie season with the Phoenix Suns, Rosh Hashanah overlapped with training camp.
Back in 1978, missing a preseason game in observance of the Jewish High Holidays wasn’t exactly the best way to make an NBA roster as a third-round draft pick.
Even still, Kramer went Koufax.
“Do what you need to do,” Kramer recalled Suns head coach John MacLeod telling him, in a 2001 interview.
So, he went to Temple and then spent the next five seasons with the Suns.
From Ossie Schectman scoring the NBA’s first basket to Abe Sapperstein barnstorming the country with the Harlem Globetrotters to three-of-the-five commissioners in league history having an opinion about Gefilte Fish, Jewish culture has always been one of the key pieces that tells the story of professional basketball.
Jewish players were few and far between in the NBA
Kramer, a native of Del Cerro and alumnus of Patrick Henry and San Diego State is woven into that tapestry as one of only a handful of Jewish NBA players since the 1970s. For the entire decade of the 80s, Kramer, Ernie Grunfeld and Danny Schayes were the only Jews in the league.
“I lucked out and made the basketball team [in high school],” Kramer, 68, said over the phone from his home in the greater Phoenix area. “Had I not, my mother would have wanted me on the swim team. She thought that having the discipline that sports require and being on a team was important.”
In the 1977 Maccabiah games in Israel, Kramer, alongside Grunfeld and Schayes represented the American Jewish basketball team, winning the gold medal after defeating the Israeli team in the championship game, 92-91. The American squad was coached by NBA Hall of Famer and Jewish basketball luminary Dolph Schayes.
“He was a good coach and person,” Kramer remembered. “What’s not to like about that type of competition and Jewishness – it was exceptional.”
Drafted by the Suns in 1978 as a power forward-center, Kramer primarily backed up Alvan Adams – the 1976 NBA Rookie of the Year. At six-foot-seven, Kramer was an adept free throw shooter and diligent rebounder.
Once, in a dramatic 1979 Western Conference Finals game, he went for 19 points on a near perfect shooting night.
More accountant than professional hooper
But, as he tells it, his athleticism was more accountant than professional hooper – which might explain his second career as a Certified Public Accountant.
“I didn’t have great natural athletic abilities – I wasn’t slam dunking and running the floor faster than everyone else,” Kramer said. “I was very fortunate to be with the right coach and system and players that allowed me to produce far greater than my physical attributes.”
Adams, unlike Kramer did slam dunk over and run the floor faster than defenders.
“Of all the former players he’s the one I stay in contact with most,” Kramer said. “He was an extraordinarily good basketball player and phenomenal athlete. He doesn’t get the recognition he deserves. He was a six-foot-nine center who ran like a gazelle. He was unbelievably important to the Suns system, getting the Walter Davis’s and Paul Westphal’s their shots and he’s an even better person.”
At SDSU, Kramer set the school record for consecutive free throws made at 33, a record he held for 13 years. As a senior he was named the Player of the Year in the old Pacific Coast Athletic Association, scoring over 13 points and securing nine rebounds per contest on a 19-win Aztec team.
But there was never an expectation or dream of playing in the NBA. With an accounting major, the plan was always to follow in the footsteps of his father as a CPA.
“I wanted to be a CPA [coming out of college] and then all of a sudden ‘oh my God I made the team,’” remembered Kramer, who also interned at local accounting firms during the NBA offseason.
Kramer’s pro career ended in 1984 with famed Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv. He signed a three-year contract for a reported $100,000, but the relationship only lasted a half-season.
“It didn’t work out very well,” Kramer remembered. “I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and quite honestly, I wasn’t the player they wanted me to be. I worked really well in a system and was never a flashy player. With the Suns it was a disciplined system, if you did the things you were supposed to you’d know how to react and who was supposed to get the shot. [With Maccabi] I didn’t fit in – the system required more one-on-one skills than team skills.”
At 29, after a six-year detour into professional basketball, Kramer traded in his converse for dress loafers.
“I had already had a child and wasn’t opposed to starting my career as a CPA,” Kramer said. “I never dreamed about the NBA because I never thought I was skillful enough to play. I was blessed to get the opportunity with the Suns and it worked out extraordinarily well.”
For many years, Kramer worked for the Phoenix-based accounting firm Miller Wagner. Since 2011, he has been the CEO of Associated Asset Management an Arizona-based HOA management company with a 12-state presence.
That once-upon-a-time he wore purple short-shorts and chased a large orange ball often comes as a surprise to coworkers.
“People still will say ‘oh I just looked you up, I didn’t know you played basketball, why didn’t you share that?’” Kramer said. “It was 40 years ago and you weren’t born yet. If someone asks me because I am tall, did you play? I usually say yes, but only if they say where do I comment ‘the Suns.’ I don’t make it a point. It’s not part of my story anymore.”
Kramer stayed connected with basketball playing in a recreational league for some 30 years at the metro-Phoenix JCC.
“The thing that I missed the most about the NBA was the camaraderie and the people,” he said. “After I stopped playing there was a group of guys that played for years together. My point guard and I were the young guys when we started and the old guys when we ended. I was 60-something and he was 71.”
“Even in those leagues I wasn’t the best or fanciest,” Kramer continued. “I just enjoyed playing and getting exercise. I finally stopped going when I realized I was only going for the beer and wings after the game. ‘Do you want to go back in?’ ‘No, not really, I’m happy watching.’”
(Courtesy image)
