For 20 seasons, Kobe Bryant wowed sports fans with his skill and unbending desire to win on the basketball court. Seeming to feed off the highest pressure situations, the self-named “Black Mamba” led the Los Angeles Lakers to five NBA titles. Kobe inspired basketball players around the globe and became a major supporter of women’s basketball after his retirement. His 13-year-old daughter Gianna played on a club team that Kobe Bryant helped coach. Father and daughter were on their way to a basketball tournament when they and seven others died in a tragic helicopter crash. We remember Kobe Bryant with a look back at his incredible life and basketball career.
Kobe Bryant spent many childhood years in Italy where his father Joe, a former NBA player, played in Italian professional leagues. Fluent in Italian, Kobe moved back to the United States and attended Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, a suburb of Philadelphia. On the basketball court, he averaged over 30 points a game and led the school to their first state championship in 53 years.
Kobe was interviewed during a Bulls game while he was in high school. The teenager shows poise when talking about meeting idol Michael Jordan before the game.
Though recruited by all the major college basketball programs, 17-year-old Kobe Bryant decided to directly enter the NBA draft. The Lakers made a trade the day before the 1996 draft with the Charlotte Hornets, who had the 13th selection, and told the Hornets to pick Bryant. Kobe signed a 3-year deal with the Lakers. Since he was under 18, his parents had to co-sign.
Kobe was on his way to stardom before he stepped on the court for the Lakers. He appeared on “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno right after the NBA draft.
Kobe and Shaq were one of the greatest 1-2 inside-outside duos in NBA history. Shaq was a dominating presence in the paint and Kobe could create points from anywhere on the court. They led the Lakers to a three-peat, winning 3 NBA titles in a row from 2000 to 2002. They also famously feuded, mostly off the court and through the press. Some of this came down to Shaq making comments that Kobe was a selfish player though the stats don’t show that to be true. After Shaq was traded to the Miami Heat, the pair would slowly mend their relationship and become close, each praising the other’s game.
After Kobe died, Shaq said on Twitter: “There’s no words to express the pain Im going through with this tragedy of loosing my neice (sic) Gigi & my brother @kobebryant I love u and u will be missed. My condolences goes out to the Bryant family and the families of the other passengers on board. IM SICK RIGHT NOW.”
Kobe idolized Michael Jordan and no player was more similar in style to “Air Jordan” than Kobe. Both were extremely quick and terrific at driving to the basket and finding a way to score. They were the two most competitive players in the game, having won 11 NBA titles between them. For this game in 1997, the Bulls beat the Lakers with Jordan grabbing 36 points and Kobe 33 in a losing effort.
Kobe won the first of his five NBA titles with the Lakers when he and Shaquille O’Neal led them to a 4 games to 2 series win over the Indiana Pacers in the 1999-2000 season.
Kobe Bryant met his wife Vanessa in November 1999, when he was 21 and she was 17. Kobe was finishing up his debut record in the same building where Vanessa was a background dancer in a music video. They became engaged six months later and were married on April 18, 2001. The couple has four daughters: Tatiana, Gianna (who died in the helicopter crash), Bianka, and Capri Kobe.
Kobe averaged 25 points a game over 20 seasons with the Lakers, an incredible accomplishment. He was one of the best ever in driving to the basket in traffic and scoring, sometimes with a circus shot like this one over Portland’s Rasheed Wallace.
Kobe did not play in the 2000 or 2004 Olympics. He first joined the U.S. squad for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. He won an Olympic gold medal with the team in 2008 and again in London in 2012. In this 2008 photo, Bryant is seated with U.S. teammates Carmelo Anthony, Dwayne Wade, and Dwight Howard.
The most exciting part of the NBA’s All-Star weekend is the slam dunk contest. Michael Jordan won it, and in 1997, 18-year-old rookie Kobe Bryant won.
Kobe announced his retirement early in the 2015-2016 season, saying his body had had enough. He finished the season with fans in each city paying tribute. Though his scoring average had decreased, he went out in style in his last game, pouring in an incredible 60 points against the Utah Jazz.
Kobe passed down his love of basketball to his daughter Gianna. Here the father-daughter pair take in a Lakers game one month before the helicopter crash that took their lives.
