Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Memorial pays tribute to Bryant, daughter
LOS ANGELES — Kobe Bryant’s wife remembered him as a devoted father and husband who arrived early for school pickups and wrote heartfelt cards and letters.
Rob Pelinka, Bryant’s longtime agent and closest friend, recalled getting a text from the NBA superstar moments before he was killed last month in a helicopter crash. The message asked for help in securing an internship for another friend’s daughter.
Michael Jordan called Bryant “a little brother” and said when he died, “a piece of me died.”
Bryant’s athletic achievements were only part of the reason that 20,000 Lakers fans gathered Monday for a public memorial service at Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. The event offered another chance to honor Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and the other seven victims of the crash with tears, memories and laughs.
Los Angeles already knew that
Bryant was much more than a basketball player. His friends and family told the world.
“I couldn’t see him as a celebrity, nor just an incredible player,” Vanessa Bryant said. “He was my sweet husband and the beautiful father of my children. He was mine. He was my everything.”
The ceremony included musical numbers by Beyonce, Alicia Keys and Christina Aguilera. The event concluded with a screening of “Dear Basketball,” Bryant’s Academy Award-winning short film about his retirement from the Lakers in 2016.
Fans, many wearing Bryant’s jersey or team colors, filled the seats at the downtown arena where Bryant played for the final 17 seasons of a two-decade NBA career spent entirely with Los Angeles’ most popular sports franchise.
The mourners included Lakers legends Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver joined Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, Pau Gasol, Phil Jackson and dozens of current NBA players. Celebrities
such as Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez also attended.
After Jimmy Kimmel welcomed the crowd, Vanessa Bryant provided a poignant window into the family’s life with Gianna and her three sisters — Natalia, Bianka and Capri.
“God knew they couldn’t be on this Earth without each other,” said Vanessa Bryant, who had been with Kobe since 1999. “He had to bring them home to have them together. Babe, you take care of our Gigi. And I got Nati, Bibi and Coco. We’re still the best team.”
Vanessa Bryant was followed on the podium by basketball stars Diana Taurasi and Sabrina Ionescu and University of Connecticut
women’s coach Geno Auriemma. Kobe Bryant was a passionate advocate for women’s basketball, and Gigi Bryant was a promising young player who aspired to play at UConn.
Jordan, whose career was wrapping up as Bryant’s was starting in the late 1990s, praised Bryant as “one of my dear friends. He was like a little brother . ... As I got to know him, I wanted to be the best big brother that I could be.”
O’Neal and Bryant joined the Lakers together in 1996 and won three consecutive championships during eight tumultuous seasons. Although their relationship was often rocky in public, O’Neal said the two were always friendly in private, even comparing their dynamic to John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
Vanessa Bryant sued the owner and operator of the helicopter.
The wrongful death lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court said the pilot was careless and negligent by flying in cloudy conditions Jan. 26 and should have aborted the flight that killed all nine people aboard.