Kobe Bryant Tragically Killed In A Helicopter Crash

The National Basketball Association, and its fans all over the world, endured one of the most unfathomable tragedies in the history of the league on Sunday, when news emerged that former Los Angeles Lakers’ legend Kobe Bryant had died, when the helicopter he was riding in crashed in the hills of Calabassas, California.

What was already an unimaginably horrible situation was only further compounded when news emerged that Gianna Bryant, the 13-year old daughter of Kobe Bryant, was also one of the nine casualties in said helicopter crash.

Bryant, his daughter, a few teammates, and their parents, along with the pilot, comprised the list of victims in the crash. Bryant was taking his daughter to a basketball game to be played at Bryant’s namesake Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks. Just over 40 minutes after the helicopter departed from John Wayne Airport in Orange County, a 911 call was placed as a result of the crash.

As of this posting, the cause of the crash remains unknown. While there was indication of some adverse weather conditions around Los Angeles on Sunday morning, the pilot for Bryant’s helicopter had received clearance to take off.

Without question, the entirety of the sports world – both inside and outside of the United States – has been devastated by Bryant’s passing. In sporting events all over the world, players would put up two fingers and four fingers on each hand, in commemoration of the jersey #24 which Bryant wore over the second half of his career.

During both NBA and collegiate basketball games, teams would start out the contest by taking the 24-second shot clock violation, again in commemoration of the #24 jersey-wearing NBA icon.

But in even more heartbreaking fashion, there were countless players who could not control the tears streaming down their faces, as news emerged of the NBA great’s demise. To many players in the NBA today, Bryant was among the best to have ever done it; many of them refer to Bryant as “our Jordan,” seeing as how so many of today’s athletes were too young to have ever witnessed Michael Jordan play in the NBA.

The son of former NBA player Joe “Jelly Bean” Bryant, Kobe Bryant famously grew up watching his dad play professional basketball, which seemingly laid the path to where he would eventually end up. Starring at Lower Merion High School in Philadelphia (where he was born), Bryant was selected with the 13th overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft, becoming the first guard ever drafted directly out of high school.

In a cruel twist of fate, Bryant was third on the NBA’s All-Time scoring list, having scored 33,643 points over the course of his career. But Bryant was surpassed on the list by LeBron James, literally less than 24 hours before Bryant and his daughter had their life taken away from them. Bryant is survived by his wife, Vanessa, and their three other daughters. Already, various NBA ticket distributors and business partners have announced that proceeds from ticket sales and various other incomes will be directed to various charitable ventures overseen by the Bryant’s.