Pilot Ara Zobayan and the flight coordinator had been texting about the conditions and within an hour of departure, the coordinator asked how things looked for the 9 a.m. The day before, a group text had been started among the crew members.
While Bryant had been focused on getting his daughter and her teammates to the game, his private helicopter’s team had long been preparing for the flight. in order to catch the helicopter to get to day two of the tournament in time for the team’s first game at 12 noon. By 7 a.m, he had already stopped by his Catholic church, Our Lady Queen of Angels, since he had to get from his Newport Coast home to John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana by 9 a.m.
There was no lazy Sunday morning for Bryant on January 26. Other helicopters were grounded that morning due to poor flying conditions He sent what would become his final tweet, congratulating James for “continuing to move the game forward” and the two even chatted briefly after 8 p.m. Though he was focused on family time, he was well aware that across the country in his hometown of Philadelphia, LeBron James beat his career-points record, knocking Bryant into fourth place. He rushed home to Orange County, avoiding Southern California traffic by going by helicopter, and by about 5 p.m., he was at the Fashion Island mall in Newport Beach with his then 3-year-old Bianka, enjoying looking at the koi fish in the pond. Nevertheless, for him, his eyes were on his family. Of course, with the tournament being held at a Thousand Oaks gym co-owned by Bryant called Mamba Academy ( later renamed Sports Academy, out of respect to Bryant), the basketball legend himself was the star attraction. The Orange County girls’ basketball team that Bryant coached - which included his 13-year-old daughter Gianna - was playing their first tournament at the two-day Mamba Cup, with players ages 9 to 14 from all over California and a few other states competing. The weekend was an exciting one in the Bryant household. Bryant spent the previous day at a basketball tournament and with his family Even though he retired from the sport in 2016, scoring an impressive 60 points in his final game, he found his way in other realms, most notably winning an Oscar in 2018 for his animated short Dear Basketball.ĭespite all that greatness, what made Bryant most human was his love for his family - his wife Vanessa, who he married in 2001, and their four daughters, Natalia, Gianna, Bianka and Capri.Īnd ultimately, it was for the love of basketball and his daughter Gianna that he met his untimely end that Sunday morning on his way to the second day of his daughter’s basketball tournament. In 2006, he scored 81 points in a single game - the second-highest in NBA history. And unlike players who zig-zagged around through teams, for all 20 seasons he played, he remained a Los Angeles Laker. He was a five-time NBA champion, 18-time All-Star, two-time NBA finals MVP - and two-time Olympic gold medalist to boot. The way Bryant mastered the sport, it seems as if he was invincible. The headline accompanying it was completely surreal: Basketball great Kobe Bryant was dead at the age of 41.
And while it was all but confirmed that the NBA legend had died in the crash, it was only on Wednesday that the medical examiner officially identified his body, as well as those of the other victims.The helicopter may have crashed into a hillside in Calabasas, California, on Sunday, January 26, 2020, but it was immediately felt around the world. Bryant, 41, his teenage daughter Gianna, 13, and seven others were aboard a helicopter chartered by Island Express Helicopters and heading to a basketball game last Sunday, January 26, when it crashed into a hillside in Calabasas, California.Īll the victims were subsequently taken to the forensic science center for official examination and identification, per the coroner’s office. With a memorial service for Kobe Bryant, both private and public, still seemingly far off, questions are being asked on social media and it appears numerous factors, including his body still being in the possession of authorities, are playing their part in this delay.
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