In January 2020, the world lost a great man, legendary basketball player, loving husband and
father, Kobe Bryant. Let's recall the main stages of his life and trace how his career was built.
Kobe Bryant was born August 23, 1978 in Philadelphia, the youngest of three children
and the only son of former NBA player Joe Bryant and Pamela Cox Bryant. He was also the maternal
nephew of NBA player John "Chubby" Cox. His parents named him after the famous beef of Kobe,
Japan, which they saw on a restaurant menu. His middle name, Bean, was derived from his
father's nickname "Jellybean." Bryant's family was Catholic and he was brought up with this faith.
He began to play basketball seriously abroad: when the boy was six, his family settled in Italy for a
while because of the father’s career. Kobe went to school in Italy and learned Italian and Spanish.
The father started teaching his three-year-old son how to play basketball; besides, Kobe was
interested in soccer. In his later interviews, the sportsman said he could have chosen the
soccer career. Frank Rijkaard and Ronaldinho are Kobe’s icons, and Milan is his favorite club.
In 1991, Joe Bryant finished his team career and came back to the
United States to bring up the next generation. He was a talented coach
who did not forget to spend time with his son who proved to be a promising athlete.
Kobe practiced every day and showed the incredible will and diligence.
The father’s contribution and the young man’s traits of character made him perfectionist:
Kobe wanted to be best in everything and maintain this status by all means.
By that time, Bryant attended Lower Merion High School. Scouts who were looking for talented
players for the local basketball team noticed him quickly. The young man’s talent blossomed
there. His long training also made its impact: in four years, Lower Merion High School team
transformed into one of the best teams in the state. More than that, the young man
earned 2883 points which made him one of the most resultative players in the history of the state.
Soon, the young man got the title of the best school basketball players in the USA. The athlete
used to wear 24 and 33 numbers. From that moment, Bryant’s basketball career started soaring,
and the player never regretted his decision to devote his life to professional sports.
Black Mamba had many take-offs in his career and no falls except for those caused by traumas.
Fans remember a lot of wonderful moments where Bryant was actually leading his
team to the victory. Young altheas study Kobe’s games for some 20 years.
20 years make a great epoch – people usually leave big basketball much earlier.
However, Bryant held until the last moment and managed to stay at the peak of his fame.
The high-school student began to play hard as he brought his candidature to the NBA draft. Kobe
is the first professional basketball player and the member of the association who got accepted at
this young age: Charlotte Hornets selected him as their number 13 in the first round. Later, it was
discovered that Hornets did that on purpose: there was an arrangement with Los Angeles Lakers (Kobe
used to be this team’s fan in his childhood). Charlotte Hornets desperately needed a center
player; later, they traded Bryant to Lakers. The athlete proved to be a bright shooting guard.
Bryant played in the same team with another basketball star Shaquille O'Neal.
Together, they brought three NBA titles in a row (2000-2002) to Lakers.
Nevertheless, both sportsmen were natural leaders, and they had conflicts because of that:
O’Neal did not want to let another athlete have the title of the team’s victorious symbol while
Kobe could not stand the secondary role. Eventually, the young one won: in 2004,
Shaquille transferred to Miami Heat which made Bryant the major star of Lakers.
Initially, Kobe had number 8. In 2006,
number 24 was available, so the young man took it in memory of his school team activities.
When Bryant finished his career, both numbers were put out of use in the team.
According to the basketball player, he mastered the technique of fallaway jump shot when he
watched a cheetah was hunting on the video. Professionals also mark the man’s vertical
dribbling style, the T position of his arms, and the usage of an index finger while touching
the ball center. These peculiarities helped the player control throws on every level.
Thanks to his abilities and strong will, Kobe Bryant built one of the most brilliant
careers in the professional sports. He is rightfully called the most resultative player
and compared to Michael Jordan whose records Kobe always tried to break.
Besides, Jordan himself admitted that only Kobe Bryant could probably come near him.
LeBron James, the player of the NBA team Cleveland Cavaliers, is another basketball star who is also
compared with Bryant. Although the sportsmen use different techniques, they are equally successful.
In 2005-2007, Kobe became the top scoring player of the championship;
in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 seasons, he was named the NBA scoring leader and the
most valuable player in the history of Lakers. Bryant broke records annually;
thus, he became the youngest basketball team member who had the maximum points.
Similar to his former colleague Shaquille O'Neal (finished his career in 2011), Kobe Bryant is one
of the top ten NBA players. By that period, he was the leader among NBA active scorers;
Kobe’s height was 198 cm., and his weight was 96 kg.
In February 2012, Lakers lost to Philadelphia 76ers. However, Kobe’s score was recording;
he surpassed O'Neal. In March 2013, Bryant surpassed the center player Wilt Chamberlain.
In 2015, the documentary about the famous athlete, Kobe Bryant's Muse, was released.
April 2016 was marked with Bryant’s last match: his team Lakers defeated Utah Jazz. The picture
of the smiling 37-years-old athlete was taken when he was saying good-bye: “Mamba is leaving.”
It was a difficult decision for the champion. He quit when he was the winner. Only the club
members, masseurs, chiropractics, doctors, and other personnel knew at what cost Bryant was
playing and proving to be the best sportsman. The previous injuries, as well as the age,
influenced Bryant. He always played his heart out, just like in his youth; one cannot but respect him
for that attitude. The athlete left at the peak of his fame and fulfilled his childhood dream.
Throughout his career, Black Mamba earned numerous awards including five champion titles,
two gold medals at the Olympic Games, and U.S. Open Basketball Championships.
Moreover, Bryant participated in 18 All-Star, 15 All-NBA Team, and 12 NBA All-Defensive Team games.
In 2015, Kobe Bryant became the wealthiest NBA player:
at that moment, his fortune cost $290 million with the annual salary $25 million.
The athlete’s personal life has been as happy as his professional career.
Kobe met his beloved one in his youth. His future wife, the Mexican Vanessa Cornejo Urbieta,
was born in California. When they met, the young woman worked as a backup dancer for Snoop Dogg.
The couple married in 2001 when Kobe was 21, and Vanessa was 19.
The young people married at St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church. The sportsman’s
parents and relatives were not present: they did not approve of the marriage. By 2003,
when Kobe’s first daughter Natalia Diamante was born, the older generation and Bryant made amends.
In 2006, his second daughter, Gianna Maria-Onore, was born.
The third daughter, Bianka Bella, was born in December 2016.
In 2018, Bryant became the first African-American to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Short
Film and the first former professional athlete to be nominated and to win an Academy Award in
any category for his film Dear Basketball. The film also won the Annie Award for Best Animated
Short Subject and a Sports Emmy Award. The film was produced by Bryant's production company,
Granity Studios. In addition to future animation projects, he had been in talks with animator
veteran Bruce Smith for the last six months before his death about starting his own animation studio.
Beginning in 2018, Bryant wrote, produced and hosted the television series Detail,
which aired for multiple seasons. It featured his insights into the game of
basketball and in-depth analyses of games and individual players.
Bryant was the official ambassador for After-School All-Stars,
an American non-profit organization that provides comprehensive after-school programs to children
in thirteen US cities. Bryant also started the Kobe Bryant China Fund which partnered
with the Soong Ching Ling Foundation, a charity backed by the Chinese government.
The Kobe Bryant China Fund raises money within China earmarked for education and health programs.
On November 4, 2010, Bryant appeared alongside Zach Braff at the Call of Duty:
Black Ops launch event at the Santa Monica Airport, where they presented a $1 million
check to the Call of Duty Endowment, an Activision-founded nonprofit organization
that helps veterans transition to civilian careers after their military service has ended.
Together with his wife, Bryant founded the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation.
Its goals are "helping young people in need, encouraging the development of physical and social
skills through sports and assisting the homeless". Kobe spoke of the injustice aimed at homeless
people who are blamed for their situation, saying that homelessness should not be ignored or made a
low priority. Bryant said he wanted more out of life than just a successful basketball career.
Kobe and his wife Vanessa were founding donors of the National Museum of African American History
and Culture, with Bryant also donating his uniform he that he wore in the 2008 NBA Finals,
the year he was named the league MVP. During his lifetime,
Bryant granted over two hundred requests for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
At 9:06 a.m. Pacific Standard Time on January 26, 2020, a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter departed from
John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, with nine people aboard: Bryant, his 13-year-old
daughter Gianna, six family friends, and the pilot Ara Zobayan. The group was traveling to Camarillo
Airport in Ventura County for a basketball game at Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks.
Due to light rain and fog that morning, the Los Angeles Police Department helicopters and most
other air traffic were grounded. The flight tracker showed that the helicopter circled
above the L.A. Zoo due to heavy air traffic in the area. At 9:30 a.m., Zobayan contacted the
Burbank Airport's control tower, notifying the tower of the situation, and was told he
was "flying too low" to be tracked by radar. At that time, the helicopter experienced extreme fog
and turned south towards the mountains. At 9:40 a.m., the helicopter climbed rapidly from 1,200
to 2,000 feet and At 9:45 a.m., the helicopter crashed into the side of a mountain in Calabasas,
about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, and began burning. Bryant, his daughter, and the
other seven occupants were killed. Initial reports indicated that the helicopter crashed in the hills
above Calabasas in heavy fog. Witnesses reported hearing a helicopter struggling before crashing.
The cause of the crash unknown, as the helicopter was not equipped with a black box.
The Federal Aviation Administration, National Transportation Safety Board,
and the FBI have launched investigations into the crash.
On January 28, Bryant's identity was officially confirmed using fingerprints.
The following day, the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner stated that
the official cause of death for him and the eight others on the helicopter was blunt force trauma.
On February 7, Bryant and his daughter were buried in a private funeral in Pacific View Memorial Park
in the Corona del Mar neighborhood of Newport Beach, California. A public memorial service was
held on February 24 (2/24, marking both Kobe's and Gianna's jersey numbers) at Staples Center
with Jimmy Kimmel hosting. Speakers at the service included Vanessa, Jordan, and O'Neal,
along with Chino native, Laker fan and Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi and Geno Auriemma,
Taurasi's coach at Connecticut, where Gianna had been aspiring to play.
On February 15, NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced that the All-Star Game MVP Award
would be renamed to the NBA All-Star Game Kobe Bryant Most Valuable Player in Bryant's honor.
In May 2020, the Mamba Sports Academy was renamed to Sports Academy out of respect for Bryant.
Kobe Bryant was posthumously inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021,
with Vanessa delivering the acceptance speech on Bryant' s behalf.