Joe Bryant, a former NBA participant and WNBA coach with a colourful nickname, has died at 69, 4 and a half years after his son, Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, granddaughter Gianna Bryant and seven different folks died in a helicopter crash.
Fran Dunphy, the coach at Joe Bryant’s alma mater La Salle, advised the Philadelphia Inquirer on Tuesday that Bryant just lately suffered a debilitating stroke.
A teammate at John Bartram Excessive Faculty in Philadelphia nicknamed Bryant “Jellybean” as a result of he had an unlimited array of strikes regardless of being 6 toes 9. “Have to be jelly as a result of jam don’t shake like that,” Bryant recalled listening to, quoting the World Conflict II-era hit tune by Glenn Miller.
The nickname caught — Bryant additionally appreciated to eat jellybeans — and he grew to become a star. He was the Excessive Faculty Public League Participant of the Yr in 1972, then remained in Philadelphia to attend La Salle, averaging 20.3 factors and 11.1 rebounds per recreation throughout his two seasons.
Paul Westhead, the La Salle coach on the time, seconded all of Jellybean’s motions.
“He had numerous strikes,” Westhead mentioned. “He’d minimize you up any which approach.”
Bryant was the 14th total choose within the 1975 NBA draft, going to the Golden State Warriors, who offered his rights to his hometown Philadelphia 76ers shortly earlier than the 1975-76 season started. Maybe Bryant’s most memorable second as a participant got here in his first recreation with the Clippers when he dunked over Lakers 7-foot-2 middle Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Additionally in 1975, the 20-year-old Bryant married Pam Cox, sister of former NBA participant Chubby Cox, and so they had two daughters, Sharia and Shaya, along with their son, Kobe.
Bryant was a key contributor off the bench for 4 years in Philadelphia, taking part in behind future Corridor of Famers and fellow forwards George McGinnis and Julius Erving. The 76ers made the playoffs in every of Bryant’s seasons, shedding within the NBA Finals to the Portland Path Blazers in 1977.
The 76ers traded Bryant to the San Diego Clippers forward of the 1979-80 season for a future first-round draft choose and his taking part in time practically doubled. He averaged 11 factors and 5.5 rebounds in three seasons with the Clippers earlier than averaging 10 factors with the Houston Rockets in his final NBA season.
“Joe ‘Jellybean’ Bryant was a neighborhood basketball icon, whose legacy on the court docket transcended his journey throughout Bartram Excessive Faculty, La Salle College, and his first 4 NBA seasons with the 76ers from 1975-79,” the Sixers mentioned in an announcement. “Our condolences exit to the Bryant household.”
Bryant then launched into a nomadic profession abroad as a participant and a coach, household in tow. He performed by way of 1992 in Italy and France, not returning to Philadelphia till Kobe was about to start highschool. Bryant served as head coach of the ladies’ group at Akiba Hebrew Academy in 1992-93 earlier than shifting to La Salle as an assistant at some point of Kobe’s profession at Decrease Merion Excessive.
“We’re saddened to announce the passing of La Salle basketball nice Joe Bryant,” the varsity mentioned in a information launch. “Joe performed for the Explorers from 1973-75 and was a member of our teaching workers from 1993-96. He was a beloved member of the Explorer household and will likely be dearly missed.”
Shortly after ending highschool, Kobe was drafted by the Charlotte Hornets and instantly traded to the Lakers in 1996.
Joe and Pam Bryant moved to Los Angeles with their 17-year-old son and needed to co-sign his first Lakers contract, a $3.5-million deal over three years, as a result of Kobe was too younger to signal for himself.
The Lakers rookie used a few of his newfound wealth to purchase automobiles for Joe, Pam, Sharia and Shaya, all of whom lived with him in Pacific Palisades for 3 years till Joe and Pam bought a home lower than a mile away.
“We weren’t simply going to let him come out right here by himself,” Joe advised Occasions columnist Invoice Plaschke early in 2003.
“My household was at all times there for me,” Kobe mentioned round that point. “I like them for that.”
Their relationship remained robust till Kobe courted and ultimately married Orange County teenager Vanessa Laine in 2001.
“It’s proper there within the Bible,” Kobe mentioned. “If you get married, your mom and father and sisters are not the precedence.”
His mother and father didn’t come to Kobe and Vanessa’s marriage ceremony or go to their new residence. When Decrease Merion Excessive retired Bryant’s jersey in 2002, Joe and Pam sat in a single part of the stands, Vanessa in one other.
Why the strain? Kobe mentioned his father — who had been youthful than Kobe when he married Pam at age 20 — felt uneasy about his devotion to Vanessa and didn’t like that she was Latina. Joe mentioned: “As soon as he determined to get married, it’s his life now.”
Vanessa Bryant posted a message Tuesday on Instagram: “Sending condolences upon listening to the information of my father-in-law’s passing. We hoped issues would’ve been completely different. Though the occasions we spent collectively have been few, he was at all times candy and good to be round. Kobe liked him very a lot. Our prayers exit to household.”
Bryant jumped again into teaching in 2003, spending one 12 months every with the Las Vegas Rattlers and the Boston Frenzy of the American Basketball Assn. He moved to the WNBA and grew to become head coach of the Sparks for 2 seasons, main L.A. to a 25–9 file and a convention finals berth in 2006. A 12 months later, he was changed by former Lakers star Michael Cooper.
“I’m devastated to listen to in regards to the lack of my buddy Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, the daddy of Kobe Bryant,” Magic Johnson wrote on X. “Joe was not solely a proficient basketball participant; he was additionally an important coach.
“Joe was an distinctive human being with a radiant smile that had the ability to brighten any room, and an important husband and father. Cookie and I are praying for his spouse Pam, daughters Sharia and Shaya, and the remainder of the Bryant household, pals, and all those that liked Joe.”
From 2007 to 2015, Bryant coached a handful of groups in Japan, Italy and Southeast Asia. As just lately as 2013, Bryant was understanding recurrently on the full-length basketball court docket on the second ground of the L.A. house constructing the place he and Pam lived.
His exercise? He’d make 120 photographs, 60 on every finish — 20 from the left aspect, 20 from the best, 20 down the center — proving to himself that “Jellybean” nonetheless had the strikes at age 60.
