From Italy to Ardmore

Kobe spent ages 6 to 13 in Italy, where his father Joe “Jellybean” Bryant played professional basketball after a journeyman NBA career with the 76ers, Clippers, and Rockets. The family lived in Rieti, Reggio Calabria, Pistoia, and Reggio Emilia. Kobe grew up speaking fluent Italian, picked up Spanish, and modeled his game on Magic Johnson and Hakeem Olajuwon footage his father brought home on VHS.

When Joe’s playing career ended in 1991, the Bryants returned to suburban Philadelphia. Kobe enrolled at Lower Merion as an eighth-grader transitioning to ninth grade. By his sophomore year he was 6’5″ and starting on varsity; by junior year he was the most-recruited prep prospect in the country.

The 1995-96 senior season

Lower Merion went 31-3 in Kobe’s senior year. He averaged 30.8 points, 12.0 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 4.0 steals, and 3.8 blocks. The Aces beat Erie Cathedral Prep 48-43 in the PIAA AAAA state championship game on March 23, 1996 at Hersheypark Arena — the same building where Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points 34 years earlier.

Awards came in waves: McDonald’s All-American (game co-MVP with Lester Earl), Naismith Prep Player of the Year, Gatorade National Player of the Year, USA Today All-USA First Team. He committed to play college ball at Duke, North Carolina, Michigan, or Villanova — then announced at his senior prom (with Brandy as his date) that he was going to the NBA instead.

Charlotte to Los Angeles, in the same trade

The Charlotte Hornets selected Kobe with the 13th overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft. Lakers GM Jerry West had pre-arranged a trade: Bryant for Vlade Divac, freeing the cap space the Lakers needed to sign Shaquille O’Neal away from Orlando in the same offseason. Kobe was 17 years old on draft night.

Lower Merion retired Kobe’s #33 jersey in 2002. The school’s gym was renamed The Bryant Gymnasium in 2010. After Kobe’s death in January 2020, Lower Merion painted a permanent court-side mural and renamed the campus’s main basketball court the Kobe Bryant Court.

Background facts cross-referenced with the Wikipedia article on Kobe Bryant and Pro-Football-Reference / Basketball-Reference public records. Lead image via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain).