DES MOINES | Becca Hurley Kramer has two Most Valuable Player trophies from her days leading Northwestern College to NAIA Division II Women's Basketball titles.
Where are they? In storage, next to the washer and dryer, in her basement in Des Moines.
The detail is something Kramer hesitates to admit. It also makes her chuckle.
"When Jonathan (Kramer) and I got married and had an apartment, there was a wall with pictures of us and several plaques," she said. "As we moved and our family has grown, we've gotten a little more picky with our space. We do have a new bookshelf, but I just haven't put it up yet."
Those tasks sometimes have to wait, even for a former two-time national Most Valuable Player and three-time champ. Parenthood gets in the way, you realize.
The former Becca Hurley and Jonathan Kramer are parents to Titus, 4, and Isabella, 2. The couple is expecting their third child on April 8. They don't know if No. 3 will be a boy or a girl.
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"It'll be a suprise," Becca said. "I do feel good and everything is healthy."
She then added, "Titus wants a boy pretty bad."
Whether the newborn, or his/her older siblings will be proficient with a basketball in their hands remains to be seen. If they're anything like Mom or Dad, however, chances are pretty good they'll handle the ball and score. Jonathan Kramer, a native of North Dakota, played at Northwestern. It's where he met Becca, the Des Moines East High School phenom who helped claim three NAIA Division II women's national basketball titles for the Red Raiders, capping off her freshman, junior and senior seasons with triumphs in the championship contest.
She even helped direct NWC to a national crown, doing so as an assistant coach for Chris Yaw, one year after her 2011 graduation.
"I have three national title rings, but did not get one for being a coach," she said.
Becca also earned a pair of national MVP trophies, earning those prizes at the end of her junior and senior seasons. Someday, she indicated, the hardware will find a better spot in their home, better than the one next to the washer and dryer, that is.
When she's not playing with and watching over her growing family, Becca can be found teaching and coaching. She teaches physical education part-time at Joshua Christian Academy in Des Moines.
"I've taught here for five years and it seems like they're adding a grade about every year," she said. "I also substitute teach some in the Des Moines schools."
Her work comes primarily when her mother can help watch Titus and Isabella. Jonathan teaches science at Des Moines Christian High School.
In 2013-14, Becca served as the assistant girls basketball coach at Des Moines East, where she played as a prep. Then, she had Isabella and she put down the high school coaching clipboard for a while and took up coaching third- through eighth-graders. It's a better fit, personally, for Becca, who seeks to be at home each evening with her children. You really can't do that as a high school coach.
"Working with middle school students is nice as the season is shorter," she said. "And I'm teaching these third-graders the fundamentals. I'm actually doing a lot of the drills we did in college. It reminds me that you cannot skip steps."
Not skipping steps was a bit of a mantra shared by her Red Raider coaches Earl Woudstra and Chris Yaw. It must have resonated as Northwestern knew nothing but success in Becca's time on campus. When pressed to mention a specific on-court memory, she hesitates and does what amounts to a change-of-pace move with the conversation.
"I'd say the best memories are the overall enjoyment of being on a team and sharing so many laughs in the locker room," she says. "Now, when I'm coaching, phrases they had will come back to me and I'll use them. The moment will bring them out."
They're sayings such as, "Run the floor for your teammates," and "The small things lead to big things."
The small things in her house, toddlers really, are the big things. And even though she and Jonathan were connected by a ball, hoops and fundamental drills in the gym, this 27-year-old former MVP assures they won't pressure their children to chase a hoop dream, or any sports passion, at all costs.
"We know what a blessing it is to develop relationships and a work ethic, things you can do in sports," she said. "But we also don't want to pressure them into it and we don't want it to become too much of a priority. It can become something you worship or spend all your time on. We both have a good perspective on that."
And that might also help explain why the MVP hardware, collected nearly a decade ago, has its place in the laundry room right now.
