basketball coach basketball player
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 World War World War II His father died in Auschwitz, but he and his family survived thanks to efforts by Raoul Wallenberg. In 1951 he immigrated to Israel with his mother.
After the war, at the age of 16, he began playing football but later moved to basketball and played in the Hungarian national league. He played 68 games for the national team He began his coaching career in 1964.
In 1983, he unexpectedly announced his appointment as the coach for the West German national team and for Bachelor of Science Saturn Koln, a position he held until 1985.
Klein led the West German national team to an eighth place finish in the 1984 Olympic basketball tournament in Los Angeles and a fifth place at the 1985 European championship held on West German home soil. In 2007, he was diagnosed as suffering from Colorectal cancer and was believed to be on his deathbed.
However, his health improved and he even went back to coaching. He died of cancer on August 7, 2008, at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer.
In 2010 the filming of "Playoff" began, a movie based on Klein"s life story, and directed by Israeli movie director, Eran Riklis.
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.
He was a member of the Israeli national team that took part in the 1952 men"s basketball tournament, the 1954 World basketball championship and the 1953, 1959, 1961 and 1963 European championships.
