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Remembering Kobe Bryant (1978-2020): 8 stories, one year later

Here’s a list of The Inquirer’s best eight stories that captured what the legend meant to Philly, basketball and beyond.

Kobe Bryant visited Vaux Middle School, where his uncle Chubby Cox was the basketball coach, to help with a trophy presentation for the basketball team ini 2005.
Kobe Bryant visited Vaux Middle School, where his uncle Chubby Cox was the basketball coach, to help with a trophy presentation for the basketball team ini 2005.Read moreJENNIFER MIDBERRY / Staff Photographer
    by Staff Reports
    Published 

The sports world stood still as news broke that Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, 2020. LeBron James had passed Bryant for third place on the NBA’s scoring list on the previous night against the Sixers at the Wells Fargo Center, more than 17 miles away from Lower Merion High School.

Bryant, three years into his NBA retirement, acknowledged James’ milestone in a tweet.

The next day, a Twitter storm was ignited over reports that Bryant had died in a helicopter crash, along with eight others, in Calabasas, Calif.

Today marks the one-year anniversary of Bryant’s tragic death. In honor of the basketball legend, here’s a collection of eight features to capture what Bryant meant to Philly, basketball and beyond:

  1. The story of how Kobe Bryant’s death brought an athlete and scholar named Bobby McIlvaine back to life.

  2. Lower Merion coach Gregg Downer pens an essay on Kobe Bryant’s death.

  3. Kobe was right. Philly wasn’t his hometown.

  4. Kobe Bryant’s death hit hard, and maybe it hit you, too, but the week of mourning helped.

  5. On Kobe, and human legacy, and what we think about when we think about death.

  6. Kobe Bryant once said he might join the Sixers to end his career. What if he had?

  7. Memories of Kobe Bryant: He was a star even among the biggest stars.

  8. See Kobe Bryant, before he became a legend.

» READ MORE: Read more Kobe Bryant coverage