ONE System | 26/01/2021 11:26
Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna immortalized on wall (Reuters)
“Is Kobe Bryant dead now?”, This phrase was searched by many on Google exactly a year ago. Rumors of a helicopter crashing in Los Angeles flooded the network and made people wonder if one of the biggest stars in NBA history was killed.
Soon the apprehension became a reality. The crashed helicopter claimed the lives of 41-year-old Bryant, his daughter Giana (Gigi) and seven other passengers. Vanessa Bryant lost both her husband and her 13-year-old daughter. Everyone knows Bryant’s story, but only after the tragedy was the special relationship between Kobe the father and his daughter revealed.
“She was a father’s child, but she loved me very much. You loved baking and making Dad a birthday cake. “He loved watching you make cookies, he loved seeing you play NBA games with him,” she praised Giana’s mother Vanessa. “Gigi was very competitive, like her dad. Kobe always said she had my personality, my fire and it was impossible not to fall in love with her on the inside. Kobe and Gianna were so connected, he would listen to her songs. She loved basketball, football, dancing and swimming. She loved helping everyone, even those who had difficulty at school. “
Indeed, the connection between the two was deep. Gigi followed in her father’s footsteps and played basketball. She had a great future ahead of her and she planned to play at the University of Connecticut and then at the WNBA. She excelled at the Black Mamba Academy opened by her father Kobi, who also coached her. You could say she had the best coach she could ask for.
“We will not get to see her go to high school, I will not have the chance to teach her to drive a car. I can ‘t tell her how amazing she looks on her wedding day. I can not see her dancing a dance with her father. She could have been the best player in the WNBA, ”Vanessa said.
Bryant was a proud father of four daughters. Apart from Gigi, he has always been proud of the big Natalia and the Bianca and the small Capri. “You must have a son and Vanessa who will continue the legacy,” Bryant was often told. “I have Gigi,” he always replied.
Many people who encountered Bryant in their lives at one point or another shared stories after his death. One of them is an ESPN presenter, Al Duncan, who spoke with Bryant when she was eight months pregnant with her daughter.
“I asked him for advice about raising children,” Duncan said. “He had three at the time. He said ‘be grateful you get this gift because girls it’s amazing’. His daughter Bianca was a year and a half old at the time and I asked if he wanted more children. He said his wife Vanessa wanted to try again for a son to come out but he laughed and said there would probably be another daughter. He said he was ready to have five more daughters because he was a “father of daughters.”
Bryant will enter the NBA Hall of Fame over the coming year. This will happen because of his performance on the hardwood, because of the five championships he won with the Los Angeles Lakers and because of the inspiration he used for many. But it turns out he would have also entered the Fathers Hall of Fame, if there was such a thing.
