Kobe Bryant, Joe Bryant and the Michael Jordan Comparison
Reports are flooding in of the untimely death of retired NBA superstar Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, around 10:00 a.m., California time, on January 26.
According to TMZ, at least three and as many as nine other people were traveling with Bryant and all onboard were killed. At this writing, their full identities have not been released. However, it is known that Vanessa Bryant, Kobe’s wife, was not on the helicopter. Tragically, their daughter, Gianna, 13, was killed in the accident.
Joe and Pam Bryant, Kobe’s parents, also had two daughters, Sharia and Shaya.
Joe and Pam were pointedly not invited to Kobe’s final NBA game (after 20 years) against the Utah Jazz. In that final, now historic game, Kobe Bryant poured in sixty points before a wild and raucous hometown crowd, beating the Jazz in the last seconds of the game 101 to 96 — with Kobe, of course, hitting the go-ahead and winning shot.
More on Kobe’s family fissure below.
Not surprisingly, Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, like his son, is a retired NBA star. But, as the world watched for twenty years, Kobe was much more than a mere “chip off the old block.”
Sure, sixty-five-year-old Joe Bryant is, 6’9” tall; and that explains how Kobe got his six feet and six inches in height.
And, just as his son would do later (1996), Joe Bryant was drafted in the first round out of La Salle University by the Golden State Warriors in 1975. But through the constant “horse trading” — some say slave trading — for which all professional sports are famous (or infamous), Joe Bryant officially played his first NBA game as a Philadelphia 76er.
In 1979, Joe was traded to the San Diego (now L.A.) Clippers, where he played for three years. Joe Bryant ended his NBA career as a Houston Rocket in 1983. He then went on to play basketball in Europe for seven years.
After retiring entirely from playing, Bryant began coaching while still in Europe. He returned to the US and became the assistant coach at his alma mater, La Salle University.
In 2005, Bryant was hired as the head coach for WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks. In 2007, he was replaced by former Sparks…
