Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant was fluent in more than several languages including Italian due to his father playing for eight of sixteen seasons in Italy.
Upon his family returning to the United States, Bryant played basketball at Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. He received several national Player of the Year awards and broke the southeastern Pennsylvania scoring record set by Wilt Chamberlain with 2,883 points.
Bryant opted to forgo college and declared himself eligible for the NBA draft when he graduated from high school. The Charlotte Hornets chose him with the 13th pick of the 1996 draft. He was traded to the Lakers, his dream team, shortly thereafter and became the second youngest NBA player in history when the 1996–97 season opened. He quickly proved his merit with the Lakers and was selected for the NBA All-Star Game in just his second season, becoming the youngest All-Star. Center Shaquille O'Neal was eventually traded, and Bryant emerged as the team’s sole leader.
Bryant led the league in scoring during the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons, and in 2008 he was named the league’s MVP for the first time in his career. Bryant won his fourth NBA title in 2009, and he was named the finals MVP after averaging a stellar 32.4 points per game in the series. He led the Lakers to their third straight Western Conference championship in 2009–10, and he was once more named NBA finals MVP.
Bryant retired following the last regular-season game of the 2015–16 season after spending twenty years, his entire career with the Los Angeles Lakers.
In addition to his professional accomplishments, he was a member of the gold medal-winning U.S. men’s basketball teams at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the 2012 London Olympic Games.
In 2015 Bryant wrote the poem “Dear Basketball,” and two years later it served as the basis for a short film of the same name, which he also narrated. The work won an Academy Award for best animated short film.
In 2018 Bryant published the book The Mamba Mentality: How I Play, in which he described his approach to basketball; the title reflected a nickname he bestowed upon himself during his playing days, “The Black Mamba.” Kobe Bryant has stated that "Mamba mentality is all about focusing on the process and trusting in the hard work when it matters most."
During his career and retirement Kobe Bryant supported after-school programs, cancer research and efforts to help the homeless. Kobe Bryant also opened the Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, California, as a multisport training center for young athletes.
Having four daughters, he became a leading advocate for women's college basketball and the WNBA. Kobe Bryant was grooming daughter Gianna Bryant in reaching her dream of playing for the UConn Huskies and ultimately for the WNBA.
On January 26, 2020, Kobe Bryant, 41 and Gigi Bryant, 13, and seven others died in a helicopter crash while traveling to a basketball game. Kobe and Gianna Bryant are survived by wife and mother Vanessa Bryant and daughters and sisters Natalia, Bianka, and Capri Kobe Bryant.
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kobe-Bryant
https://toofab.com/2020/01/29/kobe-
bryant-honored-oscars-ceremony/
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28616030/kobe-bryant-stolen-lower-merion-jersey-unveiled-tribute
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/01/sport/kobe-bryant-wnba-diana-taurasi-spt-intl/index.html
https://apnews.com/b10e31cb0fc0be9297ddb1d0795ad26b
https://popculture.com/sports/2020/02/02/kobe-bryant-fans-want-mamba-inspired-change-nba-uniforms-tribute-lakers/
https://www.today.com/news/vanessa-bryant-shares-poignant-tribute-kobe-gianna-bryant-t172973
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