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Alum
Jim Ramm Has Long-term Ties to MCCC
Basketball Program
2/10/11
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West Windsor,
N.J. -- Alum Jim Ramm '72 ranks as one of the most loyal Vikings
basketball fans the college has ever had.
"Jim certainly is one of Mercer's icons," says MCCC
Athletics Director John Simone.
Ramm was scorekeeper in the glory days of 1973 and 1974, when
the men's team won back-to-back national titles under famed
Head Coach Howie Landa and Assistant Coach Bob Pugh. After
those heady years, Ramm took a break from Mercer and carried
out sideline duties at several area high schools, including
Notre Dame, where John Simone was the athletic director in
the 1990s.
When Simone took the job as athletic director at MCCC in 1997,
he asked Jim to come along to do the scorebook and clock for
men and women's games. Five years ago, Ramm began to work
strictly for the women's program and has been the sidelines
guy for the team ever since, compiling statistics on practically
every move on the court - points, foul shots, rebounds, steals,
you name it - during both home and away games. He works in
tandem with MCCC students, whom he trains to run the scoreboard
and clock.
Happily, what used to be a painstaking manual job for Ramm
is now computerized. He has a laptop and a printer set up
at the scoring table at every game. If stats are requested
immediately, he can print them out on the spot.
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Jim
Ramm compiles stats
courtside for women's basketball.
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"I
keep the stats at the games and then I go home and compare mine
with what Head Coach Mike Tenaglia has compiled. Usually we are
pretty close," Ramm says. "Steals, assists and foul shots
are easy, but rebounds are harder to keep track of, so we figure
them out between us."
With
the Lady Vikes having secured a spot in the Region 19 tournament,
Ramm is looking forward with anticipation to the post season. The
first round will be played Feb. 22. (Location and time to be announced.)
A
lifelong Trenton resident, Ramm began studying Business Administration
at Mercer in 1970, and was a member of the last class at the downtown
campus before the move to West Windsor. Now a retired state worker,
he says, "Mercer has worked out well for me. I was away for
years, but when John said he needed help, I was there. I do it because
I love the game." He notes that he found his place courtside
way back in junior high school when he worked for his school's team.
While basketball is his favorite sport, Ramm also supports Mercer's
other teams and makes sure to see at least a few soccer games in
the fall and baseball and softball games in the spring.
"Mercer is part of who I am," Ramm says.
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