Joe Bryant, the father of Kobe Bryant and a basketball star in his own right at Bartram High School, at La Salle, and over eight seasons in the NBA, died Monday.
He was 69.
Bryant recently suffered a massive stroke, La Salle head coach Fran Dunphy said Tuesday. Four and a half years have passed since his son and his granddaughter Gianni, along with seven other people, died in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, 2020.
John Cox, Bryant’s nephew and an assistant men’s basketball coach at La Salle, said in a statement that he was “heartbroken by the sudden loss of my uncle. He was a basketball icon in the city of Philadelphia and someone I grew up admiring. The impact he has made both here at La Salle and in the Philly basketball community will be felt for years to come.”
A 6-foot-9 forward with a memorable nickname — “Jellybean,” for his fondness of the candy — and an array of skills that presaged the arrival of players such as Magic Johnson and LeBron James, Bryant was the Public League Player of the Year in 1972, then averaged more than 20 points and 11 rebounds over two seasons at La Salle.
After the 1982-83 season, during which he played for the Houston Rockets, Bryant found greater individual success playing professionally in Europe, especially in Italy, before his family moved back to the Philadelphia region, settling in Wynnewood.
He and his son had been particularly close throughout Kobe’s childhood and decorated career at Lower Merion High School. But after Kobe joined the Los Angeles Lakers and embarked on what would be his Hall of Fame career in the NBA, their relationship became strained over time as Kobe sought more freedom and independence from his family. Joe Bryant had made no public comment about his son’s death.
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