BEFORE HE BECAME A LEGEND

Kobe Bryant’s legacy is undeniable, and it started at Lower Merion High School. See images of Kobe Bryant’s early years.

Lower Merion's Kobe Bryant driving to the basket against Coatesville in a 1995 high school playoff game where then-Sixers coach John Lucas first saw Bryant in action. Lucas wanted to draft him in 1996, but he was fired before then. The Sixers drafted Allen Iverson.File photograph
  • By Inquirer Staff Photographers
  • Published

Kobe Bryant’s legacy is undeniable, and it started at Lower Merion High School.

Bryant, 41, died Sunday — along with his daughter Gianna and seven others — in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, Calif.

See images of Bryant from before he became a basketball legend.

Lower Merion's Kobe Bryant in a game against Coatsville on Feb. 27, 1996.Ron Cortes / Staff Photographer
Lower Merion's Kobe Bryant driving to the basket against Coatesville in a 1995 high school playoff game where then-Sixers coach John Lucas first saw Bryant in action. Lucas wanted to draft him in 1996, but he was fired before then. The Sixers drafted Allen Iverson.File photograph
Lower Merion's Kobe Bryant in a game against Coatsville on Feb. 27, 1996.Ron Cortes / Staff Photographer
Lower Merion's Kobe Bryant in a game against Coatsville on Feb. 27, 1996.Ron Cortes / Staff Photographer
Lower Merion's Kobe Bryant in a game against Coatsville on Feb. 27, 1996.Ron Cortes / Staff Photographer
Kobe Bryant, of Lower Merion, soars over Erie Cathedral Prep in a March 1996 game.RON CORTES / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
This is a photo of Kobe Bryant taken when he was named High School Player of the Year by the Inquirer Sports Department his senior year in 1996, at Lower Merion High School.MICHAEL BRYANT / Staff Photographer
Kobe Bryant wore a tux sans tie, and Brandy rocked a champagne Moschino gown. "Kobe and Brandy sort of made an entrance, with people, with cameras yelling at them as they walked in," said Jennifer Weiner, who wrote about the dance for The Inquirer. "At the time, it felt very unusual and atypical and special."File Photograph
Kobe Bryant and singer/actress Brandy Norwood arrived at the Bellevue Hotel in Center City Philadelphia for the Lower Merion High School prom in May 1996. The pulled up in a white stretch limo. "There was a certain sense of fame," recalled classmate Stacy Moscotti Moore. "Even trying to be normal, still it was like, wow. There are famous people over there, and there's the security detail."Charles Fox / Staff Photographer
Kobe Bryant with his grandfather Joe Bryant on the day he announced he is headed to the NBA, at Lower Merion High School, in April 1996.File Photograph
Kobe Bryant on the day he announced he was giving up his eligibility to play college basketball and would head straight to the pros. The news conference was held at at Lower Merion High School in April 1996, the gymnasium was packed with students. "Literally every single person loved Kobe," classmate Audrey (Price) Gornish said. "I don't think that guy had one enemy. Really. He was kind to every single person in that entire school."File Photograph
Lower Merion's Kobe Bryant in a game against Coatsville on Feb. 27, 1996.Ron Cortes / Staff Photographer
Lower Merion's Kobe Bryant in a game against Coatsville on Feb. 27, 1996.Ron Cortes / Staff Photographer
Facing the media, friends and students, Kobe Bryant, star player of Lower Merion High School and the top player in the nation announces that he will be going to the NBA.RON TARVER / Staff Photographer
Kobe Bryant at a press conference in June of 1996.File Photograph
Lower Merion's Kobe Bryant in a game against Coatsville on Feb. 27, 1996.Ron Cortes / Staff Photographer
Lower Merion's Kobe Bryant in a game against Coatsville on Feb. 27, 1996.Ron Cortes / Staff Photographer
Kobe Bryant on the day he announced he is headed to the NBA, at Lower Merion High School, in April 1996.File Photograph
Kobe Bryant with Sixers coach Johnny Davis at a press conference in June of 1996.File Photograph
Kobe Bryant, of Lower Merion High, is interviewed after being picked first — 13th overall — by the Charlotte Hornets in 1996.George Miller / Staff Photographer