Sitting at my cousin’s birthday party joyfully as a young 13 year old kid, I was chatting it up with people I don’t see every so often. My cousin and I were huge basketball fans and played on the middle school teams. I look over at my dad with his jaw on the floor. He let out words that sounded impossible to me at the time. “Kobe Bryant dead at 41,” he read. I rushed over to see for myself and I still couldn’t get myself to believe it.
Another report confirmed at least five dead in a helicopter accident, working to confirm that Bryant was one of the victims. Still distraught, my cousin and I were hoping that there was a slim chance that this whole thing was false. That hope was flushed when it was confirmed that there were a total of nine dead in the accident; Bryant and his daughter Gianna were two of the victims. Going home that night, I took a sharpie and wrote Kobe’s jersey numbers on my left and right basketball shoes.
Bryant’s basketball career lasted a long 20 years with only one team, the Los Angeles Lakers. Kobe accumulated an average of 25 points per game with 5 rebounds and assists per game. Total points in his career ended at 33,643, putting him 4th on the all time list. Kobe’s accolades consisted of: 18 All-Star Appearances, 5x Champion, 2x Finals MVP, 15x All-NBA, 1x MVP, 12x All-Defensive Team, 2x Scoring Champ, and the 1996-97 NBA Rookie of the Year. Kobe’s most well known games over his career were his 81 point performance on January 22, 2006 vs the Toronto Raptors and his farewell game vs the Jazz on April 13, 2016, where he scored 60.
After retirement Kobe called himself “a girl dad” as he had four of them. His second oldest Gianna followed in her dad’s footsteps and wanted to play basketball to carry on the tradition and legacy of the Bryant name. Kobe had his own massive facility built after he retired and it was named the Mamba Sports Academy, where made his own team which was called “Mamba” named after Kobe’s well-known nickname the “Black Mamba.” Gianna and her team slaughtered their opponents coached by her dad Kobe. And then that fateful January 26 morning, on the way to a game at the facility, the accident happened. Kobe, Gianna and two of her teammates Alyssa Altobelli and Payton Chester all lost their lives, all three kids with a bright future ahead of them.
Local fans and citizens were quick to make memorials outside of the Staples Center where Kobe played as a Laker. Many flowers, jerseys, posters, and a variety of other things surrounded different memorials outside the arena. Kobe will be remembered as a basketball icon for years to come and an inspiration to regular people around the world. Kobe even made a short film called “Dear Basketball.” The film won Kobe the Oscar for best animated short film.
Five years later, many still remember where they were, how they felt, and who they were with the day of the accident.
Finally, remembering the ones we lost: Kobe Bryant, Gianna “Gigi” Bryant, John Altobelli, Keri Altobelli, Alyssa Altobelli, Sarah Chester, Payton Chester, Christina Mauser, and the pilot, Ara Zobayan.
