From small town to small island

If you have ever gone to the Pacific Islands Club to enjoy a relaxing afternoon at the Waterpark, you may have had the opportunity to meet the director of their Sports, Entertainment, and Activities, Jon Cramer. If not, you have surely seen the result of his years of service in the form of the smiles on the faces of the PIC Clubmates.

The Midwestern native is a long way from the Great Plains, but Cramer left the small town comforts of Olathe, Kansas—which means “the beautiful” in Sioux—in 1991, when he was offered a Clubmate position at PIC Guam back in 1991. For the next four years he bounced back and forth between Guam and Thailand until he finally landed a position on Saipan as the water park supervisor in 1995. Since then, he has climbed the ladder of success to oversee all of the Clubmates.

Cramer also picks up microphones at the PIC for a variety of shows where he displays the talents that have local event coordinators calling for his services when they need his mix of personality and humor.

“PIC has always utilized me that way since the beginning in Guam and in Phuket, and so when I came here and I was used that way in the PIC shows I think that people saw me and then they knew. It’s kind of something that I’ve always done since college and high school. I was always the host guy,” he said.

Cramer has donned his fair share of wacky wigs and outlandish outfits at a number of Saipan’s award ceremonies and banquets to add a little extra flavor to the events.

“The characters and the outfit came about because I have done so many events, and I wanted to make it interesting for me and for the people who have seen me. Saipan is a small market place and they’ve seen me as myself so many times that I figured that it must get boring to them. I can be serious when I need to, but it’s more fun to make it funny. People like to laugh and I love to make ‘em laugh. Dressing up is kind of an easy way to help facilitate that,” he said.

Since coming to the CNMI, Cramer even had the opportunity to host a television program and a radio show, but took a step back when his priorities changed a while back. When Cramer isn’t busy organizing golf tournaments, volleyball tournament, forming the local volleyball association, emceeing numerous events, serving as the play-by-play for the Commonwealth Football League, or participating in fundraising activities, he can usually be found at the Pacific Islands Club tending to the needs of the Sports, Entertainment, and Activities Department as the manager or participating in the Gong Show.

“It started as a radio show called ‘Sports Rock’ with myself and Chris Nelson, and after about six months we were approached to be on television, so we turned it into a TV show for about a year. Then I was ready to retire from TV because it was taking a lot of time and I was trying to be family oriented,” he said.

His time in the Marianas hasn’t been all work, as Cramer met his future wife Yoshie on Guam some 11 years ago as she was on vacation. Since then, they have raised two children, 7-year-old Misaki and 18-month-old Minami, on island.

“I really like Saipan because you have a good opportunity to meet a lot of people on the island, and not just meet them and see them once in a while—you get to see them all of the time. Where I’m from is not a city to begin with, and Saipan had a little more of the small town feel for me. I like the genuine kindness that you get from people. They are going to tell you straight up if they like you or they don’t—you know where you stand. Plus the beaches, the weather, and the location, with my wife being from Japan,” he said

Aside from being an avid electronic darts player for the VFW Clubmates in the “C” league, Cramer can also be found on the beach volleyball court at the PIC as a player for the Beach Side Rockers—something that he was unable to do for the past couple of seasons because of an injury he sustained almost three years ago.

“I shanked the serve and Russ [Quinn] gave me a lousy set because I gave him a lousy pass. Instead of letting the ball drop I dove for it. I’ll never forget that moment when I tried to get up,” said Cramer as he demonstrated the way he struggled to his feet.

Back to his previously active self, Cramer offered some words of advice to all local athletes who think they may be impervious to injury,

“Stretch! Make sure you stretch because when you get older, that’s when injuries happen,” he said.

As for future plans, the small town boy from Kansas looks to travel no further than his small town in the Pacific.

“I plan to stick it out hanging at PIC and enjoying working with such fun young staff that I have—the young motivated happy people. Having a staff that is all about being fun keeps me kind of young and fun.”