The Gift That He Gave Us
Joe Bryant Was A Proud Son of Philadelphia.
He also gave Philadelphia Another Son to Be Proud of.
On Tuesday, the Philadelphia sports family suffered a tremendous loss. Joe Bryant was a Philadelphia athletic success story. He was a high school star at John Bartram High School. He attended LaSalle College from 1969–1975 and led the Explorers to an East Coast Tournament Champions and an NCAA Tournament appearance in 1975.
When it came time for him to ascend to the NBA—for a moment in time—he was drafted by Philadelphia’s oldest NBA franchise, now in Golden State, and then traded back to the 76ers. He was even an assistant coach for the LaSalle Explorers from 1993–1996.
But Joe Bryant gave us something else; he gave us Kobe.
Kobe was also a son of Philadelphia, a star at Lower Merion High School who grew up playing in leagues like Sunny Hill. Twice in front of packed houses at The Palestra (the first in the PIAA District I Class AAAA Semifinal) — he dropped a 29-point performance against Rip Hamilton. And again against Chester at The Palestra in the PIAA Class AAAA State Eastern Final- he dropped 39 points. That year, Kobe helped Lower Merion win the state title in 53 years.
After each win at the Palestra, Kobe embraced his father.
When Kobe announced that he was skipping the collegiate ranks for the NBA Draft in 1996, it seemed that all of Metro Philadelphia watched the announcement. Kobe would become one of the greatest NBA Players of all time, an eighteen-time NBA All-Star, five-time NBA Champion, and two-time NBA Finals MVP.
But Kobe never played in Philadelphia. Over his 20-year NBA Career, he would occasionally come to play the Sixers at the Wells Fargo Center to an uproar of boos.
Those boos were not from a place of hatred, though. They were from the distaste of one of Philadelphia’s finest sons taking his success elsewhere. After Kobe and their daughter Gianni were killed in a Helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, in January of 2020 — the basketball world now mourns the death of two Philadelphia basketball legends.
Joe Bryant’s legacy — a blueprint of Philadelphia basketball ascension and greatness at all levels that aspiring athletes in the City try to replicate each year — was not all that he gave us.
Joe Bryant gave us Kobe.
PHOTO: LaSalle Athletics
Discover more from Philadelphia Sports Nation
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Categorized:College More PHL News Sixers