Fans gather to remember, mourn
LOS ANGELES – The Lakers’ flag draped over his head as he hunched over. It covered up his No. 24 Kobe Bryant jersey. It also covered up his tears as he stared at the Bryant memorabilia scattered on the pavement.
“It felt like a family member passed away,” said David Groce after drying his eyes. “So I called off work today.”
So did hundreds of others. Less than 24 hours after Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter (Gianna) and seven others died in a helicopter crash, hundreds of Lakers fans gathered around Staples Center and the L.A Live complex across the street both on Sunday night (Jan. 26) and Monday morning (Jan. 27). These fans once roared every time Bryant made a basket. This time, they either cried, reflected or stared silently at varying images that captured Bryant’s significance to this city.
Around Staples Center and other L.A. Live landmarks, numerous video boards displayed Bryant wearing a black suit, black tie and white shirt. Underneath Bryant’s smile read “In memory of Kobe Bryant (19782020). In a fenced-in area around the center of L.A. Live, Lakers fans laid out flowers, No. 8 and No. 24 Bryant jerseys, Bryant photos and candles.
Groce, a dean and afterschool director for the Century Academy of Excellence, canceled classes for his students, both so he and other presumed Bryant fans could mourn.
“It’s unreal,” Groce said. “I couldn’t really sleep last night. It was constantly on my mind. It hit home.”
Anthony Jackson, 62, from South Central Los Angeles stood in the center of L.A. Live holding a poster frame that featured a collage of Bryant photos he assembled four years ago. Jackson’s poster fame, which showed varying images of Bryant either scoring, growling or sweating in a Lakers uniform, prompted a handful of Lakers fans to take photos of the artwork before exchanging sympathies.
“This was a private picture, but I can’t just enjoy this by myself now,” Jackson said. “The world must see how I felt about Kobe.”
One Lakers fan that wore a No. 24 Bryant jersey randomly hugged a stranger who wore Bryant’s No. 33 jersey from his high school alma mater (Lower Merion). Several other fans wrote messages on the pavement.
One read, “Mamba and Mambacita, you both will be missed. Long Live the KING!” Another read, “the best to ever do it in my eyes!” One Lakers fan, who identified herself as Isabelle, simply wrote calligraphy of Bryant’s name.
On Jan. 26, hundreds gathered near the crash site in Calabasas. Countless Lakers fans went to the Church in the Canyon where they could see the wreckage from afar. After once wearing Bryant’s No. 8 or No. 24 jersey while cheering him for his on-court heroics, Lakers fans wore his uniform while grieving.
“I was in total shock,” said Ojan Sobhanpanah, 21, who was with brother RJ Sobhanpanah, 28. “He literally saved my life. I would not be who I am without him.”
The reason? Almost a decade after attending Bryant’s summer camp in Thousand Oaks, California, Ojan reported dropping from 231 pounds to 168 this past year.
“Because of his mentality,’ ” Ojan said.
RJ got married last summer on Aug. 24, a date that aligns with the same month and day as Bryant’s jersey numbers.
“He meant literally everything to me,” RJ said. “His mentality, his work ethic and the way he played basketball – he was always the best.”
Hundreds of other fans felt the same way. ‘Mamba grieving