Matt Christopher - Kobe Bryant: Legends in Sports

If you look in the 19831984 edition of the Official National Basketball Association Register, you can find the complete career statistics of Joe Jellybean Bryant.

Nothing in the record of the six-foot-nine-and-one-half-inch, 215-pound center-forward really stands out. It states that he graduated from John Bartram High School in Philadelphia and attended LaSalle College for three years, averaging just over 20 points per game in two seasons of basketball. In 1976 he left school and was selected in the first round of the NBA draft.

From 1976 to 1983, Jellybean, who earned his nick-name after some young fans gave him jellybeans following a game, played with the Philadelphia 76ers, San Diego Clippers, and Houston Rockets. He had a solid career in the NBA, averaging eight points a game and earning a reputation as a fine passer and a defensive specialist. But Bryant wasnt quite big enough to play center full-time and didnt shoot quite well enough to play forward. He was wonderfully athletic, but in some ways was ahead of his time, for his flashy style of play wasnt much appreciated in the NBA three decades ago. He was a role player who left the spotlight to teammates like future Hall-of-Famers Elvin Hayes and Julius Erving. None of his teams ever won an NBA championship, and Bryant never made an All-Star team.

Yet none of that begins to measure Joe Bryants contribution to the NBA. For in the long run, Joe Bryant may have left a greater legacy to the NBA than many of its better-known stars.

Thats because Joe Bryant is the father of the Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant, one of the youngest and brightest stars in the NBA, a player who joined the NBA directly out of high school. The sons career has eclipsed that of the father. Kobe Bryant has already been an All-Star, won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, and won an NBA championship. His story began when his fathers NBA career came to an end.

After the 198283 NBA season, Joe Bryants career was at a crossroads. After eight seasons in the NBA, including three years as a starter for the Houston Rockets, Bryant had become a second-string player. He had settled into a backup role on the Rockets, who had finished with a record of 1468, the worst in the league.

That finish gave them the right to select seven-foot-four-inch center Ralph Sampson, the best player in college basketball, in the NBA draft. That may have been good news for Rocket fans, but it wasnt very good news for Joe Bryant. Now that they had Sampson, the Rockets didnt really need Bryant. So, at the end of the season, the Rockets released him.

No other team in the NBA expressed much interest in signing the veteran, preferring to stock their rosters with younger and cheaper players. At age twenty-eight, it appeared as if Joes career as a professional basketball player had come to an end.

The popular Bryant probably could have gone into business in Houston, but he and his wife, Pam, also a Philadelphia native, decided to return home.

Bryant quickly discovered that he missed the game of basketball. But he didnt want to coach or anything like that. He still wanted to play.

Fortunately, Bryant was a good friend of a man named Sonny Hill. Hill ran a well-known summer league in Philadelphia and had contacts throughout the basketball world. He told Bryant about a unique opportunity to keep playing the game he loved.

Although basketball had been invented in the United States, the game had spread all over the globe and was probably the worlds second most popular sport, after soccer. Several European countries even supported their own professional leagues.

Like all pro sports leagues, they were always on the lookout for talent. And the United States was still the home of the best basketball players in the world. Representatives of the Italian professional league had contacted Hill and told him they were in the market for some talented American players. They paid well and played a much shorter, easier schedule than the NBA, usually with only one game a week. Hill told Bryant he should consider playing in Italy. When Bryant said he was interested, Hill put him in touch with the Italians.

Bryant was precisely the kind of player the Italians wanted. His NBA background, size, and skills were guaranteed to make him a star in the Italian league. Moreover, his effervescent personality was certain to make him a crowd favorite. Bryant was intrigued, and not just because it meant he could keep playing basketball.

When Joe had played in the NBA, hed spent a lot of time on the road. He sometimes went a week or more without seeing his family. Joe and Pam were the parents of three young children. Their oldest daughter, Sharia, was seven years old, sister Shaya was six, and Kobe, named after a special type of steak and born on August 23, 1978, was five. While Bryant still held out some hope of returning to the NBA, he worried about the effect such continued absences would have on his family.

The more Joe and Pam discussed the possibility of moving to Italy, the better it sounded. The money was good and the lighter schedule meant hed be able to spend a great deal of time with his family. In addition, they thought that living in Italy and traveling around Europe would be a wonderful opportunity for their children to experience a different culture. They decided to accept the offer and move to Italy.

Kobe Bryants basketball education was ready to begin.

The Bryants packed up their belongings and moved to Rieti, Italy, in 1984. While Joe Bryant was learning the ins and outs of Italian basketball and Pam Bryant was finding her way around a new city, Sharia, Shaya, and Kobe, who had just turned six, started attending an Italian school.