Kobe Bryant, 13-year-old daughter killed in helicopter crash - The Washington Post
Kobe Bryant, 13-year-old daughter killed in helicopter crash - The Washington Post |
- Kobe Bryant, 13-year-old daughter killed in helicopter crash - The Washington Post
- The NBA legacy of Kobe Bryant - Chicago Tribune
- Column: Kobe's second act cut tragically short - Your Valley
| Kobe Bryant, 13-year-old daughter killed in helicopter crash - The Washington Post Posted: 26 Jan 2020 05:24 PM PST  Bryant was riding in an S-76 helicopter Sunday when it crashed just before 10 a.m. into a hillside near Calabasas, Calif., roughly 30 miles northwest of Los Angeles. The flight manifest listed nine people on board — one pilot and eight passengers — and there were no survivors, according to local authorities. Gianna Bryant, the former player's 13-year-old daughter, was confirmed dead. "For 20 seasons, Kobe showed us what is possible when remarkable talent blends with an absolute devotion to winning," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. "He was one of the most extraordinary players in the history of our game with accomplishments that are legendary. … He will be remembered most for inspiring people around the world to pick up a basketball and compete to the very best of their ability. He was generous with the wisdom he acquired and saw it as his mission to share it with future generations of players, taking special delight in passing down his love of the game to Gianna." Weather observations from the crash area indicated low clouds and restricted visibility, which may have obscured high terrain. The crash sparked a quarter-acre brush fire, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department, which responded with "15 pieces of apparatus and 56 personnel" to extinguish the blaze. In the hours after the crash, white smoke from the helicopter was visible from nearby Highway 101. Bryant regularly traveled by helicopter during and after his NBA career, and a large crowd of fans quickly descended upon the crash scene to pay their respects. The smooth shooting guard, who patterned his game after Michael Jordan, entered the NBA straight out of high school in 1996. The Charlotte Hornets selected Bryant with the 13th pick, but immediately traded him to the Lakers, where he spent his entire 20-year career. "I am in shock over the tragic news of Kobe's and Gianna's passing," Jordan said in a statement. "I loved Kobe — he was like a little brother to me. We used to talk often, and I will miss those conversations very much. He was a fierce competitor, one of the greatest of the game and a creative force. Kobe was also an amazing dad who loved his family deeply — and took great pride in his daughter's love for the game of basketball." By Bryant's second season, he had earned his first of 18 all-star selections. By his fourth season, he had teamed with Shaquille O'Neal to win the first of three consecutive championships. "There's no words to express the pain I'm going through with this tragedy of [losing] my [niece] Gigi & my brother Kobe Bryant," O'Neal wrote on Twitter. "I love u and u will be missed. My condolences [go] out to the Bryant family." In photos: Kobe Bryant through the yearsShare View Photos Bryant, who retired as the NBA's third-all-time leading scorer with 33,643 points, was expected to be inducted to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on the first ballot this summer. He was a headlining member of a star-studded class that also includes Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett. Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli; his wife, Keri; and his daughter Alyssa were also passengers on the helicopter, according to a spokesman for the community college. Gianna Bryant and Alyssa Altobelli were basketball teammates. As news of Bryant's death spread, reaction came from every corner of the sports world and beyond. President Trump called Bryant's death "terrible news" on Twitter, while President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, sent "love and prayers" to Bryant's family "on an unthinkable day." "Kobe was a legend on the court and just getting started in what would have been just as meaningful a second act," Obama tweeted. "To lose Gianna is even more heartbreaking to us as parents." Magic Johnson, a Hall of Fame Lakers player who also served the organization as a coach and executive, said that "the game of basketball [and] our city will never be the same without Kobe." Multiple NBA teams held tributes during games Sunday, intentionally holding the ball to incur a 24-second violation — a nod to one of Bryant's jersey numbers. Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young, who worked out with Bryant last summer, took the court wearing No. 8, Bryant's other jersey number. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said his organization would permanently retire Bryant's No. 24 jersey. Although his early career partnership with O'Neal didn't last, Bryant went on to greater heights after their 2004 parting. He won two scoring titles in the years that followed, and he famously scored 81 points against the Toronto Raptors in 2006, the second-highest single-game total in NBA history. Bryant's 2008 pairing with Pau Gasol produced two more championships in 2009 and 2010, with Bryant winning Finals MVP honors both times. Gasol wrote on Twitter that he was "beyond devastated, adding, "My big brother . . . I can't, I just can't believe it." A famous competitor known for championing his ruthless "Mamba Mentality," Bryant suffered a career-altering Achilles' injury in 2013. He recovered to play three more seasons, retiring in 2016. A season-long retirement tour culminated with a 60-point explosion in the last game of his career, perhaps the most memorable finale in NBA history. "We are stunned and devastated by the news of the sudden passing of Kobe Bryant," the National Basketball Players Association said in a statement. "Words cannot express his impact on our players, the NBA and the game of basketball. This is a monumental loss for the entire basketball community and our hearts are quite simply broken. We send love and prayers out to his wife Vanessa and the entire family." Bryant's NBA career was not without controversy. In 2003, a 19-year-old woman in Colorado accused him of sexual assault, although the charges were later dropped. The two parties later settled a civil suit. In retirement, Bryant wrote children's books and produced animated stories, while also pursuing assorted media and business projects with his Granity Studios. In 2018, he won an Academy Award for best animated short film for "Dear Basketball," his love letter to the sport. Bryant and Gianna shared a love for basketball, with Bryant serving as her coach and occasionally taking her to Lakers games. Just last month, they sat courtside for the Lakers' victory over the Dallas Mavericks and took photographs with rising star Luka Doncic. "[Bryant has] got one of the greatest female basketball players that's about to come up sitting next to him," Lakers superstar LeBron James said after a game in November. "I'm just trying to put on a show for them." Among his NBA peers, Bryant was revered for his tireless work ethic and his fearlessness in clutch moments. "For most of the guys in this league … Kobe is their Jordan," Celtics Coach Brad Stevens said. Fans at the scene were in similar disbelief. The still-smoking wreckage was visible from the street up on a hillside Sunday afternoon. Parking spots in the local shopping center were filled, and cars were illegally parked on both sides of the street near the crash site. "I just came as a respect for Kobe, he was one of the greatest of all time, especially in L.A. He has a history that we're never going to forget," said Mark Escalante, 48, who drove 45 minutes from Fillmore. Cody Stenzel, 18, of Camarillo, remembered Bryant as a role model. Holding a bouquet of yellow and purple tulips, Stenzel spoke of his experience at the Mamba Sports Academy that Bryant had opened in nearby Thousand Oaks. The academy welcomed all local youth during the 2018 Woolsey wildfires that ripped through Calabasas and neighboring areas. "I couldn't really afford it so I just went there to have fun and play some basketball when the fires were happening. It was really cool," he said, adding that Bryant had always been an important figure to him. "I always looked up to him and watch the Lakers," he said. "It was how hard he worked. Everyone knew he had Mamba mentality. … It's being tougher than anything and pushing through adversity and all the tough times. … I saw that mentality and it was cool to see what he did." Bryan Miller, 53, from Calabasas, donned a Lakers jersey after riding his bike over to the scene. "I spent my life watching the Lakers," he said. "I already know that life so short, that it can be over before you think. So make the best of it." Golliver reported from New Orleans. Harrison Smith, Emily Langer and Cindy Boren in Washington contributed to this report.  |
| The NBA legacy of Kobe Bryant - Chicago Tribune Posted: 26 Jan 2020 04:58 PM PST [unable to retrieve full-text content]The NBA legacy of Kobe Bryant Chicago Tribune  |
| Column: Kobe's second act cut tragically short - Your Valley Posted: 27 Jan 2020 10:49 AM PST  By TIM DAHLBERG Kobe Bryant was barely a few years into his post-NBA life when it was suddenly cut short in a helicopter crash so unimaginable that we had to keep reminding ourselves it actually did happen. The greats just aren't supposed to die like that. It's so overwhelming that it's difficult to process the thought that Kobe is really gone and that his 13-year-old daughter died alongside him. At the age of 41 he was awaiting certain induction into the Hall of Fame after a brilliant career with the Los Angeles Lakers. He had already won an Oscar in his post-basketball work as a film producer, written one book and started another, and was a mentor to a number of NBA players. What really put the sparkle in his eye, though, were a group of girls just entering their teenage years. They were the Mambas, and one of the greatest players in basketball history was one of the coaches. "The girls are making incredible progress,'' he told an interviewer last year. ``Just wait until you see us in six years." Those six years were going to be magical. They had to be, because almost everything Bryant threw himself into turned out that way. An Oscar for his film, maybe a Pulitzer for his book. And, of course, a lot of wins for his daughter Gianna's AAU team. Maybe that's why there was such a big smile on Bryant's face as he sat courtside last June for season opener of the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces. He talked to an inquiring reporter about being happy in retirement because he could spend more time with his family, and about the things he saw on the court in front of him that day. ``Their skill set, their athleticism,'' he said. ``It's really a beautiful game to watch.'' So, of course, was any game Dad played in. Buy a ticket to watch Bryant on the basketball court and you always got your money's worth. He won five NBA titles with a revolving cast of characters in Los Angeles, but it was more than that. He won over the town by being everything he could be every night he laced his sneakers up. A fan told the story on Twitter about going to the florist Sunday to get purple and gold flowers to take to the impromptu memorial that quickly grew at Staples Center. The women behind the counter gave him the flowers but refused to take his money. ``It's LA,'' she said. Now he's gone, before we could witness what was coming next. And Los Angeles and the basketball world will never be the same. There are people in Pittsburgh who still tear up at the memory of the last day of 1972, when Pirates superstar Roberto Clemente died in a plane crash while delivering aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. There are people around the world who will grieve deeply just as long now that Bryant is no longer with us. Clemente's legacy lives on a half-century later, driven both by the memory of his spectacular play and the fact he died while on a humanitarian mission. His name also lives on in his native Puerto Rico, where buildings, parks and baseball fields are named after their hero. Auto racing fans still talk about Dale Earnhardt nearly two decades after his death at the Daytona 500. Earnhardt's death was widely credited with safety advances that have helped limit the carnage in auto racing in recent years. Bryant's legacy is more complicated, and not just because of the 2003 sexual assault charges in Colorado that some have never forgiven him for. While the basketball stuff is written in the record books, Bryant seemed determined in his second act in life to do more with his life. He wanted to show the world he was more than just a basketball player. He wanted to erase the stain of what happened in Colorado nearly two decades ago That meant producing films and writing books, something Bryant couldn't have imagined when drafted as an 18-year-old out of high school by the Lakers. It also meant being on the court with his daughter and her friends and telling anyone who would listen that girls can play basketball, too. He had no interest in coaching in the NBA, but the WNBA surely intrigued him. Indeed, it wouldn't have been hard to imagine Bryant — the father of four girls — not only being involved in the league but also finding ways to help make it far more successful. We'll never know how the second act would have played out. One thing we do know from the tremendous outpouring of grief upon his death is that Bryant was loved by many — and for many different reasons. Smoke was still coming from the crash scene in the hills north of Los Angeles when hundreds of fans made their pilgrimage to Staples Center to lay flowers and show their respect. The Grammy awards were Sunday night at Staples, and in the rafters they lit his No. 8 and No. 24 jerseys for all to see. There will be many tributes in the days ahead because there's grief everywhere. It will take time to mourn Bryant's passing and figure out what his life meant to both a city and a sport. All of that can wait. All of that must wait. For now, all that matters is that the Black Mamba is gone. ___ Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg@ap.org or http://twitter.com/timdahlberg  |
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