A simplified reading of the
player history for the National Basketball Association (NBA) would have it that
after the age of Michael Jordan and his generation, it was the age of Kobe
Bryant and his peers. As a second-generation NBA player, Kobe would go on to be
a career-long legend for the Los Angeles Lakers, to which he gave five
championships, and with which he became an 18-time All-Star and 2008 MVP. When “Black
Mamba” retired after the 2015-16 season, he was sorely missed by the league and
fans. Now he will be sorely missed even more, as unfortunately Kobe Bryant is
now gone, forever.
The New York Time reports that retired NBA legend Kobe Bryant met
an unfortunate end this Sunday, January 26, when a private helicopter he was a
passenger on crashed in California. He was only 41 years old. According to an
official report by Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, Bryant was one
of several passengers aboard a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter owned by the former LA
Laker, and registered to the Island Express Holding Corp. The helicopter departed
from John Wayne Airport in Orange County at 9:06 AM (PST) and crashed 41
minutes later in Calabasas.
Eyewitness accounts in the
Calabasas, California area claim to have heard the sound of a helicopter before
a crash. The S-76 was known to have been flying under foggy weather conditions,
headed for Thousand Oaks and the Mamba Sports Academy where Kobe was to coach a
travel basketball game. The heartbreaking thing was that the game would see his
daughter Gianna, age 13, play while her father coached. And Gianna was with Bryant
in the helicopter when it crashed, dying with him. The helicopter was said to
be carrying none including the pilot, and none of them survived the accident.
Initial details on the S-76 crash
that killed Kobe Bryant have been spotty at first, due to the crash site being in
a hard-to-access wilderness. As stated by Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby,
firefighters had difficulty hiking to the location. Other passengers with
confirmed identities among the fatalities include basketball coach John
Altobelli of Orange Coast County College from Costa Mesa, Calif. along with his
wife and daughter.
Tributes to the fallen NBA legend
were immediately given, from expected places like the Mamba Sports Academy, and
even in the 62nd Grammy Awards that were also held Sunday night at
Staples Center, aka the LA Lakers home arena. Host Alicia Keys sang “It’s So
Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday” with Boyz II Men while spotlights were shown
on Bryant’s retired jerseys (Nos. 8 and 24) in the rafters.
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