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Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and Black blog, both also at the top in Black digital news in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com
By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief
SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts- NBA basketball legend the late Kobe Bryant, who spent his entire 20 years in the NBA with the Los Angeles Lakers as a shooting guard and died in a helicopter crash nearly a year and a half ago, was posthumously inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2020 on Saturday night.
The Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts.
"I wish my husband was here to accept this incredible award," Bryant's wife, Vanessa Bryant, said at the ceremony, after she was escorted onstage by basketball legend Michael Jordan, who also spoke at the event. "He and Gigi deserved to be here to witness this. Gigi would be so proud to watch her daddy get enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fame."
Bryant, 41, and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna Bryant died in a helicopter crash on Jan 26, 2020 in Calabasas, California along with the pilot and six others, including a former college baseball coach and his wife and daughter.
His memorial, held last year at the Staples Center arena in downtown Los Angeles, drew some 20,000 people and included performances by megastars such as Beyonce, Alicia Keys and Christina Aguilera, and speeches from Lakers General Manager Rob Polinka, NBA greats Shaquille, O' Neil and Michael Jordan, among others.
All nine people aboard the helicopter en route to the Mama Sports Academy basketball game in Thousand Oaks, California on Jan 26 perished, a life cut short of a legendary athlete was mourned across the country, Bryant, 42, leaving behind his wife of 20 years, Vanessa Bryant, and three other daughters, Natalia, 17 at the time of his death, Bianka, 3, and Capri, seven months at the time.
An investigation found the pilot was allegedly at fought, and was flying too low.
Bryant coached his daughter's club team and would take them to watch other professional basketball teams, which was the case last month when the helicopter crash occurred.
One of the greatest players of all time, Bryant's death caught the country off guard as millions across the world mourned his death.
A native of Philadelphia, Kobe moved to Italy with his family when he was six after his father retired from the NBA, and he spoke Italian fluently.
He was drafted to the Lakers in 1996 out of high school at 18-years-old and became the youngest NBA player to play in a ball game.
He went on to become the youngest NBA player to reach 30,000 league points when he was only 34-years-old, his career also highlighted by 18 consecutive years as All-Star game starter, Bryant an All -Star game contender from his second year in the NBA until his retirement from the league in 2016.
He once scored 81 points in a single NBA game, and he scored 60 points during his final game before retirement in 2016.
In addition to a host of other career accomplishments, including a five-time NBA champion with the Lakers, he is a two-time NBA MVP and won two gold medals in the Summer Olympics in 2008 and 20012 as a member of the U.S. national team.
Bryant was also a philanthropist like LA Lakers star LeBron James.
He started the Kobe Bryant China Fund, a charity supported by the Chinese government, and was the official ambassador for After-School All-Stars (ASAS), an American non-profit organization that provides comprehensive after-school programs to children in thirteen US cities.
Bryant won an Oscar in 2018 as executive producer of the animated short film 'Dear Mr Basketball,' a a piece based on a poem he wrote that illustrates his journey as a child who loved basketball to stardom with the Lakers.
One of the greatest players of all time, Bryant's death caught the country off guard as millions across the world mourned his death.
A native of Philadelphia, Kobe moved to Italy with his family when he was six after his father retired from the NBA, and he spoke Italian fluently.
He was drafted to the Lakers in 1996 out of high school at 18-years-old and became the youngest NBA player to play in a ball game.
He went on to become the youngest NBA player to reach 30,000 league points when he was only 34-years-old, his career also highlighted by 18 consecutive years as All-Star game starter, Bryant an All -Star game contender from his second year in the NBA until his retirement from the league in 2016.
He once scored 81 points in a single NBA game, and he scored 60 points during his final game before retirement in 2016.
In addition to a host of other career accomplishments, including a five-time NBA champion with the Lakers, he is a two-time NBA MVP and won two gold medals in the Summer Olympics in 2008 and 20012 as a member of the U.S. national team.
Bryant was also a philanthropist like LA Lakers star LeBron James.
He started the Kobe Bryant China Fund, a charity supported by the Chinese government, and was the official ambassador for After-School All-Stars (ASAS), an American non-profit organization that provides comprehensive after-school programs to children in thirteen US cities.
Bryant won an Oscar in 2018 as executive producer of the animated short film 'Dear Mr Basketball,' a a piece based on a poem he wrote that illustrates his journey as a child who loved basketball to stardom with the Lakers.
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Clevelandurbannews.com and-Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and Black blog, both also at the top in Black digital news in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Coleman is an experienced Black political reporter who covered the 2008 presidential election for the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio and the presidential elections in 2012 and 2016 As to the one-on-one interview by Coleman with Obama CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
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