Lower Merion’s hoopsters pay tribute to the greatest Ace
In an emotional tribute Monday to Lower Merion High School’s most famous alumnus, Kobe Bryant, students wore black and observed 33 seconds of silence at the beginning of the day in honor of the jersey number Kobe wore during his run at the school.
Just a few hours later, near where an impromptu memorial has spawned next to the gymnasium that bears Bryant’s name, eight Lower Merion basketball players, present and former, met the media to release some of that emotion and express what Kobe meant to the Aces basketball community.
“This is such a huge loss for everyone,” said Bryant’s former teammate Guy Stewart as he choked back tears. “When I first heard about it I was devastated. I still can’t believe it. It’s like losing a brother.”
“The mood at school is, students are trying to get a grasp on it,” said current Lower Merion senior guard James Simples.
“It’s very quiet, very somber, not a normal school day,” said junior Bridget McCann, a forward on the girls basketball team.
“Lower Merion basketball is in so many ways like my family, and you’re losing a family member, you’re losing a brother.” said boys basketball assistant coach Doug Young, who was in the audience at the media-only event and was a teammate of Kobe’s at the school in the mid-1990s. “You’re losing someone who inspired generations of our kids, and he inspired me.”
Aces head coach Gregg Downer, who coached Bryant from 19921996, did not speak with the media, but released a statement Monday evening that said, in part, that as great a player as Bryant was, he was an even better father.
Young concurred.
“The 1996 PIAA state championship was great, all the NBA titles were great, but you knew the most important thing in his life was his family,” said Young. “And the most important part of our relationship with him was that, while basketball brought us together, Kobe’s passion, his curiosity, his love of learning, his desire to go beyond basketball in his second career and impact kids the way he was impacting children – he pushed us to grow – those are the kind of things you’re going to remember the most.”
Former Lower Merion basketball star Darryl Reynolds, who went on to win a national championship at Villanova, was among those gathered on Monday.
“Kobe was a thought leader – I can’t reiterate enough how much bigger he was than this school,
than the game of basketball.”
Stewart remembers some of Bryant’s basketball lessons.
“Kobe was a fun-loving guy, down-to-earth off the court, but on the court he was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” said Stewart with a smile. “If you made a mistake, he’d rip your head off, but if you made a good play, he’d be the first to congratulate you. His competitive nature just kind of rubbed off on you. You wanted to be great for him.”
Ryan Brooks, who was part of the 2006 state championship team remembers a different teaching moment, off the court, before boarding the bus to Hershey for the state final, 10 years after Kobe’s team had done the same.
“Kobe called us on the phone, and he told us to put everything out here on the floor, to represent Lower Merion and that he’d be watching,” said Brooks.
Steve Meehan, Class of 2008, was on that 2006 state title team.
“Kobe never left our community, he’d come to our games, and sit on our bench,” Meehan said. “And I had heard the stories about Kobe getting to the gym at 5:30 in the morning. As a freshman, I remember going to the Lower Merion gym in the morning when the Lakers were in town and seeing him already working out. It was an amazing inspiration – he instilled in all of us the sense of hard work, and that you can dream big.”
Former player Matt O’Connor, who graduated just last May, was touched by Bryant as well.
“The first time I met Kobe was in my freshman year, after his last game in Philly,” O’Connor said. “My mom asked him if he could pose for a picture with me, and we really weren’t allowed to have pictures with him, but I think he thought I was a little kid, so he said, ‘Sure.’ He was very down to earth. We saw him last season, went to his office for an hour, and he shared all kinds of worthwhile things with us.”
While Kobe was down to earth off the court, it was a different story on the court, as illustrated by what Stewart said is his favorite memory of Bryant.
“In 1995, we lost in the second round of the state playoffs against Hazleton, and I’m crying in the locker room because it’s all over, and Kobe comes up to me and says, ‘We’re not losing next year, we’re going all the way for you guys,’” said Stewart. “The following year, he just willed that team to a state title. When I saw him after they won it, he said to me, ‘I told you so.’ That was a testimony to his mentality and his drive.”
“It’s kind of hard for me to wrap my head around right now,” Young said. “I think we’re still all very much in shock. It just doesn’t seem real. He had a massive impact on all of our lives for decades – anybody who played with him, anybody who came into his orbit, it seemed like the relationship was constant, whether he was with you or not. I can’t tell you how many people know me because I played with Kobe Bryant.”
On Monday, others in the Lower Merion basketball community shared their tributes to Kobe.
Drew Downer, who was a coach on Lower Merion’s 1996 PIAA state champions:
“Kobe had a vision for a post-basketball career that he was just beginning to tap into, and I think a big part of that was him becoming a father – he really embraced fatherhood. While Kobe’s work ethic is a DNA that I think runs through the Lower Merion basketball, he had so much more to offer in his post-playing career.”
Former Central League basketball coach Bobbi Morgan:
“What I really remember is the first time I saw Kobe play for Lower Merion - it was his freshman year, and the team won only four or five games. He was like a newborn thoroughbred colt, athletic and a little awkward. I remember Gregg Downer saying to me, ‘This kid is going to be something special.’
“His junior year, Kobe filled out and went from boy to man, he became something that the Central League had never seen. By his senior year, every game became like a show.”
Morgan had a different view of Bryant as well, serving as sports editor of the Main Line Times when Bryant played at Lower Merion.
“His senior year, he was one of the four kids we picked as Main Line Times Athlete of the Year, and he showed up at the photo shoot at Haverford College with his dad – he was always gracious, always polite, always respectful. And, after he retired as a player, I really admired him for being such a strong advocate of women’s athletics.”
Dan Kazanicka coached against Bryant in the Narberth Basketball League and coached him several times in the Ardmore Basketball League.
“Kobe was such a class act, just a gentleman, cordial, polite,” Kazanicka said. “After he graduated from Lower Merion, when you’d see him, he’d remember who you were and ask how your family was. I was always amazed at how mature he was. And when I coached against him, I’d catch myself just watching him as a fan.
“I feel incredibly blessed to have known him – I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that our hometown guy, the pride and joy of Aces Nation, is no longer with us, but he will be in our hearts forever.”