Joe Karam - Early Life

Early Life

Karam was born in Taumarunui to a Lebanese father and Irish mother. He grew up on the family farm near Raurimu and attended St. Patrick's College, Silverstream. He was a member of the public-speaking team, a prefect and played the part of a Maori boy in the 1968 school production. He excelled in sport. Other students could run faster and kick better, he says, but they didn’t use their brains like he did. At 16, he seriously considered becoming a priest. He later read a book about the existence of God that he felt actually proved the opposite - so he converted to what many see as another Kiwi religion, rugby.