Kobe Bryant will certainly be missed, but his legacy will live on

Remembering NBA All-Star, Son, Husband, Father, Kobe Bryant and what he meant to everyone he inspired both on and off the court

On January 26th, 2020, I was sitting on my couch and relaxing. I had just gotten home with Taco Bell and I was getting ready to re-watch John Wick for the 10th time. It was a very normal Sunday by every account until it wasn’t.

Halfway through the movie, I got a text from my brother. “You see about Kobe?” he said. I hadn’t. I immediately went to my source for news (Twitter) and there I saw it for myself. At age 41, Kobe Bryant, along with several others, had been involved in a fatal helicopter accident in Calabasas, California.

I was stunned. This was the first passing of a public figure that really hit me hard. I honestly did not believe it was real. But as more details began to come to light, it seemed that the unthinkable did in fact happen and that not only did this accident claim the life of one of the faces of the NBA that I grew up with, but also his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, as well as seven others.

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To me, Kobe was a guy who seemed like he was invincible. He was the face of the league when I was growing up in the late 90s and early 2000s. He was my Magic and Bird. My MJ. When he was in his prime, there was nobody on the planet who could go toe to toe with Kobe. If he decided he was going to get a bucket, he was going to get a bucket. If he decided he was going to lock someone up on the other end, that’s exactly what he did. No two ways about it. That’s what kind of player Kobe was.

That’s the kind of competitor he was.

I remember watching his last game in my apartment in college with my friend who is a die-hard Los Angeles Lakers fan, and more specifically a die-hard Kobe Bryant fan. For me, I was just going to watch a basketball game and have a couple of beers with my buddy.

I knew it was a historic night, but I wasn’t getting overly excited about it. But for my friend and so many others, they were watching their superhero play in his last NBA game and the end of an era.

Kobe got off to a slow start, missing his first five shots. But then with about five minutes left in the first quarter, he made his first field goal. Then, a few possessions later he hit one of his trademark mid-range fadeaways. Then an old fashioned 3-point play. Then a 3-pointer. Then another 3-pointer. The Mamba was heating up.

With 22 points at halftime, we were thinking “Okay this is pretty cool, maybe he’ll get 40 in his last game.” We had no idea what was yet to come. Then came the 4th quarter. The Lakers had trailed the entire game. But Kobe was a winner to his very core. When push came to shove in this very last game of his legendary NBA career he went right back to what got him there in the first place, his Mamba mentality of “give me the damn ball, we’re winning this game.”

And that’s just what he did. 23 fourth-quarter points. Eight-of-16 from the field. Four-of-six from three. The 3-pointer to get them within one point. The jumper to take the lead. And then the two free throws to ice the game. Sixty points in his last game.

By the end of that game both my friend and myself were at the edge of our seats, hanging on every possession, and then losing our minds with each shot Kobe hit down the stretch. We knew we had just seen history. That’s the kind of emotion Kobe brought out of people night in and night out for 20 years. And that is just one of the historic moments Kobe created on the court. The list is endless.

But Kobe was so much more than his accolades and moments on the court. He was the model for hard work, and where it can get you. He had no tolerance for anything but excellence and doing whatever it took to be great, and I think that anyone could take a page out of Kobe’s book in that regard. He once said, “Dedication sees dreams come true.” which rings true in so many aspects of life. He believed if you fully dedicated yourself to whatever it is you want to do, you will be successful. And he was exactly right.

A lot of the last 24 hours or so for me has been going back to watch old Kobe highlights, something I used to make fun of my friend for doing all the time. But I found myself watching his 81 point game against Toronto, watching his 60-point effort in the last game of his career, even watching him vanquish my Indiana Pacers in the 2000 NBA finals. I found myself going back to listen to the speech he gave at the 2016 ESPY awards and watching “Dear Basketball” for the 100th time. Wiping away tears as I did so, and wiping away more as I write this, now.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Kobe’s wife Vanessa, and three daughters Capri, Natalia, and Bianka, as well as his mother Pam, father Joe, and his two sisters Sharia and Shaya. He was taken from us far, far too soon. As was everyone that lost their lives in the horrible accident. He was so much more than just an 18-time All-Star, 15-time All-NBA, 12-time All-Defense, five-time NBA champion, and NBA MVP. He was a teacher. He was a coach. He was a businessman. Most importantly, he was a son. A brother. A husband. A father. And he loved being all of those things so much more than being a basketball player, which says so much about the man he was.

I’ll remember Kobe fondly, as we all should. His legacy lives on in everyone he inspired.

"“The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great at whatever they want to do.” – Kobe Bryant"

Next. Dear Kobe: An open letter to Kobe Bryant, who will never be forgotten. dark

RIP John Altobelli. RIP Keri Altobelli. RIP Alyssa Altobelli. RIP Christina Mauser. RIP Sarah Chester. RIP Payton Chester. RIP Ara Zobayan. RIP Gianna Bryant. And RIP Kobe Bean Bryant. Gone, but never forgotten.

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