Transcription
We're joined now by our sports director, Jim Hill, who has so much in the way of stories about Kobe Bryant. And you knew him personally. And we just want to extend our condolences to you and just to the entire Lakers family. I mean, I'm sure you were shocked to hear this this morning. This is, this is more than sad.
Yeah, if you know what I mean. When you have someone who is, I say he is because he's, he still lives in all of us. He was so young, so gifted, so wonderful. Such a, he was, we all know he's a great basketball player, but he was a better father, husband, and family man. He did so much in our community that a lot of people really don't know about. We know about that, some of the things that he had that he did, but they're stories that I know of where he has helped personally to help young kids go to school, gave them money to go to school. And I'm not just talking about junior high or high school, I'm talking about college and things like that.
He, he made the adjustment to retirement better than anyone I've ever met. He, he was, he was, he was, you know, you always hear about athletes who, when they retire, they don't know what to do, right? Might be lost, they get lost, they're sick, the money is stolen, they get into all kinds of trouble and things like that. Not him. He was, he was preparing his entire athletic life for when he was going to retire. And when he retired, he knew exactly what he was going to do. There was no guessing or anything about it.
I, one other thing, he became a young, an author. And one of the books is "Legacy and the Queen." And I went down and did, and did an interview with him when he talked about that. And one of the things that's, I, it stuck out in my mind. I first looked at it and I opened it up and it says, "Here to Nonny, Gigi, BB, and Coco, my four beautiful, spirited, strong daughters. Here is the part when you fiercely protect your passion, no one can steal your dreams." Kobe Bryant. Is that really him in a nutshell? He had so much that he planned ahead. You mentioned, you know, so many players go and hit the golf course and they retire, but he had a plan. Not only for when he was 18 years old to play in the NBA, but a plan for after the NBA. And she succeeded at both.
Sure. And, and the other thing is, we, we all had our ups and downs. You're showing a tape right here of the, when I saw him at LAFC. That's the, if I'm not mistaken, that's the last time. No, that is the last time I did an interview with him. And that may have been the last time anyone did an interview with him. And we were talking about, I asked him about going into the Hall of Fame. And in typical Kobe Bryant fashion, that's okay. I don't, I'm not really concerned. Let's just, I'll worry about that when it's time to. He, he always deflected personal individual gain and notoriety. He always tried to put it off to the side because he knew that's not what it was all about. What was all about is by giving back and helping our young people.
And we talked about, about giving back. You know, we just celebrated Dr. King's birthday. And, and I was driving and I was thinking, that was a thing, that was a statement that Dr. King said that, that maybe, maybe it applies to Kobe today. And what he was trying to do. And that is, giving back to your fellow mankind is one of the most noble things that anyone can do. And what could be more noble than helping our young people and make sure that they don't make the mistakes that we have made. And that's what Kobe does. That's what, that's what he did. You know, that's what LeBron does. That's what Magic does. That's what a lot of that. But when you think about being at the forefront of all of those things, Kobe Bryant. Bryant. And I remember the night of his retirement at Staples. Said, "What a game." Oh, he just got off on that game and stuff like that. Yeah. And when he came back out with the towel wrapped around his, his shoulders. And the last thing he said was, you know, "I'm out. I'm out." Yeah. "Mamba out." Because he was ready for his next. Jeff. That was it. Yeah. That was it.
And he, it's hard to, you know, you have an interesting perspective. We talked about this on the set all the time. We talked about, you know, people that you've met and people who you really admire, you know, just dealing with them in your professional career. And, you know, for me, Kobe and just the Lakers glory days, that was so personal. Those were memories, you know, with family that, that, you know, people in LA will always have. And he's so closely attached to those times. And I wonder, I think perhaps maybe you think, is that why this just feels so personal?
It is because he gave it his all. Whenever he was on the floor, he was a Laker. He knew what it meant to be a Laker. We all have had our ups and downs and our trials and tribulations. He's gotten through all of those and it's come out on the other end a better man for that. But, you know, we teach our young people about what we try to teach them about being strong, about adversity, about overcoming obstacles, about how to become a better young man. And in this, and in this, and in this particular instance, how to become a better young African-American male. And because you have, you, we have our responsibility to our young people and to all young people to show them that how to do things right.
I remember in this interview right here, we were, I took my little nephew down to see him. That's my little buddy. Yeah. That's my boy. That's my buddy. And he's got, he's, he's got such a, such a great nickname. And so we were, I took him down and we were going over to see him. And Kobe looked at was buddy. And my nephew thought he really knew it because he said, "Hey, buddy." So he made you feel like you are the most important person in the world because when he talked to you, he was looking right at you. I think all these other people, they're wrong, but he's looking right at you. And when he was talking to my nephew, Legend Lee, he looked right at him. And Legend looked right at him again. And it was, and I'm sitting there saying, "Oh, this is really cool." I said, "I'm not involved." He said, "Nope, not this time." Uh-uh. And, and, you know, and those kinds of things. So he had this unique ability of being able to talk to the masses but make them think that he was talking to each one individually. And I just, it's a bad day. It is.
You know, you talked about some of the adversity. And he had quite a bit, obviously. We know, you know, some of the challenges that he faced within his marriage and the, you know, all of that happening in the public eye. But also he had a lot of injuries that made things very difficult for him that he had to train through and overcome. And can you talk a little bit about that? About what he did and how determined he was to be, you know, to continue to be Kobe Bryant?
He may be one of the most singularly focused individuals I have ever met. Another man. And there are others. Magic is another. And LeBron is another. Muhammad was another. Stuff like that. But he, but he's up at the top of that list. That he went, he wanted to get singularly focused, he would do it. I remember one time, they went, as a playoff game in Utah, the team was playing really bad. And it went in at halftime. And he said, "Look, if you don't, if you guys don't want to win this game, get out of my way. I'll win it myself." He can't. And he did. And, and he was, he was, you know, his recognition factor and things like that. There's only a few people that we know and admire and love that have one name. Okay? They go by one name. You know, like Muhammad, Magic, right? Michael, LeBron, Kobe, Tiger. He's one of the few people that I knew of that could walk across the street and stop traffic.
Let's talk about something, you know, because it's interesting. We're here in Los Angeles. We know the impact of Kobe Bryant here with the Lakers in Los Angeles. But he was a global. He had global appeal. She, growing up in Europe. And, you know, speaking Italian and speaking different languages. I mean, talk a bit about that about his impact across the globe, not just here in Los Angeles.
Well, because he's such an intelligent individual. And when he came back from Italy, his perspective on life, on sports, and everything was like this. Mmm-hmm. Instead of, instead of the narrow way that's that some of us look at it, the way that we do. His family was there for him through good, bad, and indifferent. He had a, he was a better educated young man when he came. Because when he came back, started going to school here, he could speak Italian. A lot of young kids couldn't speak Italian. You know, most of us had trouble just with English itself. But he could speak Italian. So he was, he's ahead of the curve already. And then he had this wonderful gift of being able to play basketball. And I remember the person that recognized him and found him and realized that was Jerry West. Hmm. And when Jerry West saw him work out, Jerry West came back and told everybody said, you know what? I've just seen the best workout by a teenager that I've ever seen. And it's Kobe Bryant.
Is there a story that you have about Kobe that isn't out there that just a personal observation that you have in the years that you've dealt with him that you'd like to tell us that just kind of gives a little indication as to, we all know how great he is, but maybe something that you saw with your own eyes?
His family. Yeah. His bride, his, his daughters. He, he was as far as happy as we were for him that he was retiring and everything. He was happy. He was happy for himself because he knew he wanted to spend time with his daughters. He started taking his daughters to basketball games, to soccer games, and these, and things like that. And we know about the stories that are out there about who was on the chopper, right? And some of them are going to come up. But the thing that I admired about him the most, in spite of all the basketball things that he accomplished, was him being a terrific family man, husband, and father. He loved. I, we used to tease him, "Man, you know, you got a house full of ladies and it's great. I'm loved. I got a house full of ladies. They're gonna keep me on the straight and narrow though." You know, those kinds of things. And grow up, didn't we? But just one of his daughters just turned 17. Yes. Yes. Yes. They grew up. And they knew their place in history. And they knew his, his place in history. It's absolutely.
It's, we're coming up on 1:30 now. Here, thank you for joining us on this special edition of KCAL 9 and CBS 2. We're covering just devastating breaking news for the Los Angeles area and for the country and for the world. Kobe Bryant has died at the age of 41. He was one of five people killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas. That crash was first reported around 10 o'clock this morning near Willow Glen and Los Virgenes Road. And we are joined by Jim Hill. Jim, we can just run through the statistics of Kobe Bryant real quick. Four-time NBA champion, eight, 18-time All-Star, 20 years with the Lakers. He won the Slam Dunk Contest as a rookie. He went straight to the NBA from high school. 13th pick overall in the 1996 draft. Two Olympic gold medalists. Amazing his, his career and what he's done. And that he continued to do after the Lakers. He cared. He cared. And when you have someone that cares, and you have that quality inside, you doesn't get much better than that. Because if you care about yourself, your family, your community, your young people, that you're, you're on your way to the right thing.