TEARS FOR GIANT LOSS
Death of NBA superstar & his daughter stuns US
THE death of basketball superstar Kobe Bryant and his daughter in a helicopter crash along with seven others plunged the US into deep mourning yesterday.
And not just because Bryant was a giant of a game that was invented in America to give rowdy boys something to do in the winter — an NBA legend with the Los Angeles Lakers who ranked alongside Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal in the game’s pantheon. The 41-year-old was that and much more. One of the most famous people in the US, he was a successful businessman worth $A800 million, a charity dynamo and champion of the homeless and even an Oscar winner.
But it was Bryant’s devotion to his family as the father of four daughters — and his obvious passion for women’s sport — that seemed to turbocharge the outpouring of grief across the nation. The fact that 13-year-old Gianna, a promising player with ambitions of following Bryant into the professional ranks, died with her father moved everyone. The pair were on their way with other young players and coaches to a junior basketball tournament at
Bryant’s sports academy when the chopper crashed in heavy fog near Calabasas in California. The Lakers legend often used helicopters to save time and avoid the area’s notorious traffic.
Witness Jerry Kocharian heard what sounded like a struggling helicopter while he stood outside drinking coffee.
“It (didn’t) sound right and it was real low. I saw it falling and spluttering. But it was hard to make out as it was so foggy,” Mr Kocharian said. “There was a big fireball. No one could survive that.”
Bryant, survived by his wife Vanessa and daughters Natalia, Bianca and Capri, who was born last June, had dedicated himself to boosting women’s sports in recent years, coaching and mentoring basketball players around the world.
He told Jimmy Kimmel in 2018 that Gianna wanted to play in the WNBA and recalled how fans would often approach him saying “you gotta have a boy, you gotta have someone to carry on the tradition, the legacy”. Gianna took exception. “She’s like, ‘Oy, I got this’,” Bryant recalled. “I’m like ‘that’s right, yes you do, you got this’.”
A video of the pair sitting courtside at a game on December 21 went viral, showing Bryant talking animatedly to his smiling daughter about the play before them.
Bryant was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers from high school and led the storied team to five NBA championships over 20 years.
On his retirement in 2016, he was the third-leading scor
er in NBA history, a place he held until Saturday night, when LeBron James passed him for third place during a game in Philadelphia.
James appeared to break down on the tarmac when he returned to Los Angeles. Many other NBA players were in tears at their games.
Michael Jordan, considered the greatest of all time, said Bryant was a huge loss.
“Words can’t describe the pain I’m feeling,” he said.
“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 greats of the game and a creative force.
“Kobe was also an amazing dad who loved his family deeply and took great pride in his daughters’ love for the game of basketball.” Lakers great Magic Johnson said: “I thought he was going to live forever … I thought he was invincible.”
President Donald Trump described Bryant as one of the truly great players of all time: “He loved his family so much, and had such strong passion for the future. The loss of his beautiful daughter, Gianna, makes this moment even more devastating.”
Bryant, known for his worth ethic and all-round game, was an 18-time All-Star who won also won two Olympic gold medals over his 20-year career.
Weeping fans staged an impromptu vigil at the Lakers’ home stadium, other teams took deliberate delays of 24 and eight seconds in games in reference to both of his jersey numbers, and cities across the nation lit up in purple and gold, the colours of the Lakers.
Bryant’s career and image took a hit in 2003 when sponsors deserted him after he was charged with attacking a 19-year-old employee at a Colorado resort.
He had said the two had consensual sex, and the charge was eventually dropped. The woman later filed a civil suit that was settled out of court and Bryant apologised.
In 2011 his wife filed for divorce but the couple reconciled a year later.
The National Transport Safety Board last night dispatched a “go team” to the crash site on a wooded hillside, saying it would investigate whether it was caused by weather, human error or mechanical problems. Lockheed Martin, the aerospace manufacturer that made the Sikorsky S-76 series helicopter that crashed, will also launch a probe.