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A loss for more than NBA: Kobe Bryant and other victims remembered

Basketball superstar Kobe Bryant died Sunday in a helicopter crash along with his teen, Gianna, in a flight filled with parents and daughters.

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Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel/AP/File
Kobe Bryant is shown celebrating with his daughter Gianna after Game 5 of the NBA finals in 2009. Both the NBA great and Gianna, who was following in her dad’s footsteps, died Sunday in a helicopter crash that killed seven others, many of them parents and daughters.

Tributes cascaded in, including from heads of state. In China, millions of his fans mourned. In the sports world, players in National Basketball Association (NBA) games took 24-second violations to honor his playing number. The Grammy Awards Sunday night paid tribute to him. At the Australian Open tennis tournament, players wrote “RIP Kobe” on their shoes. Europe’s soccer stars extolled him on Twitter.

Former basketball superstar Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash in Southern California along with one of his four daughters, 13-year-old Gianna. The flight was filled with parents and daughters, including a coach at Orange Coast College, who died along with his wife and daughter, and a female basketball coach. An Orange County mom and daughter also numbered among the nine aboard.

Bryant was unquestionably one of the greatest basketball players in NBA history. His lengthy 20-year career, ending in 2016, spanned the eras of Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Bryant’s accomplishments held up against both, including 18 all-star game appearances and five NBA championships, all with the Los Angeles Lakers.

As a teen Bryant’s basketball talent was so prodigious, and so apparent, he skipped college and was drafted directly into the NBA at age 17, quickly becoming a star. In his early 20s his personal reputation took a massive hit when he was charged with sexual assault: A civil suit against him was eventually settled out of court.

But in later years his off-court behavior seemed to restore his place of honor — chiefly his obvious devotion to his wife and four daughters.

To the surprise of some, who saw him only as an athlete, after retirement he continued to excel in both business ventures and the arts, winning an Oscar for his short animated film, “Dear Basketball.” He also promoted professional women’s basketball, perhaps already seeing a future there for Gianna, already a talented player.

What more he might have accomplished will never be known. But even in a life cut short he left enduring memories.

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