Kobe Bryant was a legendary basketball player. He does not need any introduction.
This year, the first annual Kobe Bryant Day was celebrated on his birthday, on 24th of August 2022.
Kobe Bryant was not only a basketball player. He was also an inspiration for many young athletes growing up in Los Angeles and all over the world. He was a youth icon. On his birthday, America has announced a holiday. This holiday will be known as Kobe Bryant day.
HISTORY AND BACKGROUND OF KOBE BRYANT DAY:
Kobe Bryant was born August 23, 1978. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is his birth place. His father Joe Bryant was also a NBA player of his time. His mother’s name was Pamela Cox Bryant. She was a homemaker. Kobe started playing basketball when he was just three. When Kobe was just six years old, his father retired from the NBA and went to Italy with whole family to continue playing basketball at a lower level. Kobe adopted the lifestyle of Italy quite easily.He learned to speak fluent Italian.
After his family came back to America, Kobe went to play basketball at Lower Merion High School in Philadelphia. When he was playing there, he attracted attention from Duke, Michigan, North Carolina, and Villanova. After completing high school, Kobe skipped college and went directly into the pros. When Kobe was only 17-year-old, he settled upon going directly into the NBA. He became only the sixth player in history to do so. This decision got a lot of publicity.Because his basketball skills and high SAT scores made it possible for him to go to any college of his choosing. But instead of joining college, he continued his childhood dream and signed with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Kobe made his debut in the Summer Pro League in Long Beach, California, where he scored 25. He also scored 36 points in the finale and finished with an average of 24.5 points and 5.3 rebounds in four games. He became the youngest player to play in an NBA game. In the 1998-99 season, Kobe emerged as a premier guard in the league. Being an inexperienced player, he was normally benched. But after the main players Nick Van Exel and Eddie Jones got traded, Bryant started every game for the lockout-shortened 50 game season. His skills were compared with Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson.
On November 29, 2015, Kobe Bryant announced that after the ’15-’16 season, he would be retiring from the NBA. He accepted that due to playing for so long, he had got many injuries and his skills were getting worse.
Bryant was not only a legendary athlete. He had a great heart as well. In his career, Kobe raised more than $81 million for research through Stand Up to Cancer. He was named an honorary ambassador of After-School All-Stars. Kobe also started the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation with his wife to provide comprehensive services to homeless children in Los Angeles. Not only these he also donated $1 million to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
January 26, 2020 was black day for the life of Kobe and for the whole of America. 41-year-old Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna went on a helicopter ride with six family friends and a pilot. The group was traveling to a basketball game at Bryant’s Mamba Academy in Thousand Oaks. Because of rain and fog, LAPD helicopters and most other air traffic was grounded. At 9:45 am, the helicopter crashed into the side of a mountain in Calabasas and caught on fire.
IMPORTANT DAYS IN THE OF KOBE BRYANT:
August 23, 1978
Birth of an Icon
Kobe Bean Bryant is born to former NBA player Joe Bryant and Pamela Cox Bryant.
June 26, 1996
Black Mamba Joins the Lakers
The Charlotte Hornets trade 17-year-old Kobe Bryant for the Lakers’ starting center, Vlade Divac.
1998
First All-Star Game
At 19, Kobe becomes the youngest starter ever in his first NBA All-Star Game.
2002
The Real MVP
Kobe Bryant is named ‘All-Star Game MVP’ for the first time.
August 24, 2008
Go for Gold!
Kobe wins a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics as a member of the U.S. men’s basketball team.
2010
Watch Out For Kobe!
Kobe surpasses Jerry West’s franchise record of 25,192 points scored as a Laker.
November 29, 2015
Retirement
Kobe Bryant announces that he will be retiring from basketball at the age of 37.
January 26, 2020
A Fatal Crash
Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna Bryant, six of their close friends, and their pilot die in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.
KOBE BRYANT RECORDS BY THE NUMBERS:
33,643 – the fourth position held by Kobe Bryant on the NBA all-time list of points-scorers with 1,346 games.
35.4 – the highest points-per-game average for a single campaign recorded by Kobe Bryant in the 2005–2006 season.
81 – the points Kobe Bryant scored in a 122–104 victory over the Toronto Raptors at Staples Center on January 22, 2006.
60 – the points scored by Kobe Bryant for the Lakers in his final game on April 13, 2016.
15 – the number of All-NBA honors Kobe received.
9 – the number of times Kobe Bryant made it on the NBA All-Defense first team.
17 – the number of times Kobe Bryant was titled ‘NBA Player of the Month.’
32 – the number of times Kobe Bryant was named ‘Player of the Week.’
2 – the number of times Kobe Bryant won Olympic gold medals.
1 – the number of times Kobe Bryant won an Oscar award.
