Dan "Danny" Cramer (born June 2, 1952) is a former American-Dutch professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player.

College career

Cramer starred at the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private university, private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Mountain States, Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is ...

from 1971–1974. A 6’2’’ forward, he scored 504 points in 77 games (6.5 per contest) and grabbed a total of 173 rebounds (2.2 per contest). He broke the school’s record for points in a single game when he scored 50 against

Southern Mississippi The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to a ...

on February 4, 1974. He left school as a

Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a bachelor's degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of business administration and usually including advanced ...

and had majored in

accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "languag ...

Professional career

Cramer spent his professional career in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

: From 1974 to 1977, he played for Kinzo Amstelveen, winning the Dutch national championship in 1976 and 1977. Cramer emerged as an efficient scorer in the Dutch league, averaging 26.1 points a game in the 1974–75 season, 20.5 in 1975–76 and 18.3 in 1976–77. After spending the 1977–78 with the

Arke Stars Enschede Arke Stars Enschede was a Dutch professional basketball club based in Enschede. In the 1970s, the team played in the Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football ...

, scoring 20.7 points per contest, Cramer joined

EBBC Den Bosch Heroes Den Bosch is a Dutch professional basketball club based in 's-Hertogenbosch. The club plays in the BNXT League since 2021 and in the top basketball division in the Netherlands since 1972. Founded as EBBC in 1951, the club had several sponso ...

(later known as Nashua Den Bosch), where he played from 1978 to 1984. In his six years with Den Bosch, Cramer won Dutch national championships in 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983 and 1984. The best scoring average of his Den Bosch stint came in 1978–79, when he had 18.2 points per outing in the Dutch league. Cramer also appeared in European cup competitions with Den Bosch. In the 1982–83 season, he was instrumental in Den Bosch’s win over Spanish powerhouse

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

in the

Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

: Cramer had 18 points in the 86–76 upset on January 17, 1983. Cramer and Den Bosch advanced to the semi final of the competition that season.

National team career

He won 98 caps for the Dutch men’s national team and participated in the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

in 1975, 1977, 1979 and 1983. His best single-game performance at anEuropean championship came in 1975, when he led the Netherlands to a 66–65 win over Greece, scoring 28 points.

Post-playing career

In 1977, he started working for an accounting firm in the Netherlands. Cramer ended his professional basketball in 1984 and returned to the United States. While working in accounting in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, he also started a TV production company, which did TV productions of high school sports. In 1989, Cramer started organizing and promoting

3x3 basketball 3x3 basketball (pronounced ''three-ex-three'') is a variation of basketball played three-a-side, with one backboard and in a half-court setup. According to an ESSEC Business School study commissioned by the International Olympic Committee, 3x3 ...

and later

3v3 soccer 3v3 Soccer is a variety of soccer played between two teams. Each team may only have three players on the field at a time (hence providing the name, "3 v 3", "3 versus 3", or "3 on 3"). This style of soccer is more commonly referred to as a "sma ...

as well as 4on4 football.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cramer, Dan 1952 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in the Netherlands American men's basketball players Forwards (basketball) Dutch men's basketball players Dutch Basketball League players Denver Pioneers men's basketball players