Kobe Bryant - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Kobe Bryant

When my son and I heard the word that Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and 7 others had died in a helicopter crash. we immediately texted each other the sad news literally within seconds. Kobe was my son’s favorite player of all time (mine is Oscar Robinson) and his death brought back memories of the time when we met Kobe at the Forum in LA on January 2, 1998.

The Lakers beat the Hawks by 10, with Kobe getting 12 points unfortunately playing only half the game after incurring an injury. The day before, we had attended the Rose Bowl game between the University of Michigan and Washington State, which U of M won for the National Championship. At the time, my son was a freshman at Michigan, so when the team qualified for the Rose Bowl after beating Ohio State at the Big House the previous November (a game we also attended), off we went to LA for the bowl game.

However, we didn’t have any tickets, so we scalped a pair at the stadium. My son happened to ask the scalper if he also had any Lakers tickets, and indeed he did, so we bought two for the next day’s game.

We arrived at the Forum early to watch warm-ups, during which Kobe came up into the stands to talk to some friends seated near us. As Kobe was heading back to the court, my son took the opportunity to get Kobe’s attention and offer him a high five. Kobe graciously responded, said hi and returned the high five! My son loved it and over the years always talked about that moment meeting his favorite player. Speaking of high fives, Duke’s Coach K is also one of my son’s favorites. Here they are high fiving each other.

Thanks for all the memories, Kobe! Rest in peace.

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