Press: Ex-Hope player hooping it up in Germany

Stephen Cramer never had been overseas before he graduated from Hope College last spring. Now the young man from Akron, Mich., whose previous career highlight was being named the Most Valuable Player of the NCAA Division III Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association in basketball, is playing professionally in Weiden, Germany.

Not surprisingly, he's leading the league in scoring.

"It was hard to get used to the first week and I was a little lonely the first month. I had to get used to living in a foreign country," said Cramer, whose hometown boasts a population of about 1,000. "I'm the only American guy on our team and the rest of the guys on the team have been great.

"But basketball is basketball no matter where you play."

Cramer hoped to continue to play basketball once his collegiate career ended at Hope last winter. He played a handful of games with the Holland Blast of the International Basketball League this past spring, but that season ended in June.

That's when two other Hope basketball alumni got involved.

Eric Elliott, the Hope men's junior varsity basketball coach, had a successful pro career in Europe, including a number of years in Sweden where he achieved such notoriety that he had his own poster.

But it was Greg Immink, who played in Weiden last year and has since moved on to Slovakia, who got Cramer a shot at playing in the small town just north of Munich.

Cramer is making the most of his opportunity.

In Weiden, Cramer is averaging 31 points per game, the best in the league, for what he said is a middle-of-the-pack team. He's had a high game of 46 points in the regular season after scoring 54 points in a preseason game.

Cramer said most of the players in the Bund league are generally taller than those he played against in the MIAA, but do not measure up to the athleticism he experienced against a number of NCAA Division II and some NCAA Division I players in the IBL.

"They're big, but not extremely athletic," he said. "Some of the teams in the bottom of the league are not as good as some of the lower teams in the MIAA, but the teams at the top of the standings are better than teams like Hope and Calvin, who usually win the MIAA."

Cramer said he might be most proud of the fact that "a kid from a town of about 1,000 is playing professionally (because) not too many people get an opportunity like this."

The toughest part -- other than adjusting to life in Germany after taking only Spanish in high school and college -- is representing the team he plays for, the Weiden Cocoon Baskets.

A local plastics company sponsors the team.

"The logo on our shirts is a butterfly and sometimes it's tough feeling manly when I'm out there with a butterfly on my chest," Cramer said with a laugh. "But I'm having fun. I'm having a lot of fun."

Click here to view original Holland Sentinel story.