Who is Kobe Bryant’s father Joe Bryant? Wiki Bio
Joseph Washington Bryant was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA, on 19 October 1954 – his zodiac sign is Libra and he holds American nationality. He is a former professional basketball player and a coach, but is perhaps best known for being the father of the late basketball player Kobe Bryant.
Childhood and education
Joe was raised in Philadelphia, an only child in a middle class family, his father was a basketball coach at a local high school while his mother was a housewife. He became interested in basketball while attending elementary school, where he played it for fun, but upon enrolling at a high school, he began playing for the school’s team and started practicing it, thinking he might make a career out of it one day.
Upon matriculation in 1972, Joe enrolled at La Salle University, where he continued playing for the university’s team, and after he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1975, he was chosen to play for the Golden State Warriors competing in the National Basketball Association (NBA) league.
Career as a professional basketball player
Before he got an opportunity to play for the Golden State Warriors, he was moved to the Philadelphia 76ers, and stayed with them for four years playing alongside some NBA legends such as Julius Erving and George McGinnis among others. In 1979, he moved to play for the San Diego Clippers, and stayed with them until 1982.
He went on to join the US Armed Forces stationed in Italy, and on returning to the US in 1992, he became the head coach of the women’s basketball team at Akiba Hebrew Academy, before he was offered to coach at La Salle University in the summer of 1993. In 2005, he became the head coach of the Los Angeles Sparks basketball team competing in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) but was replaced in 2007 by Michael Cooper. Joe then moved to Japan, where he coached the Tokyo Apache team competing in the Japanese BJ League, before moving to Italy in 2009, where he coached Sebastiani Rieti. After three years there, Joe started coaching the Thai basketball team Bangkok Cobras competing in the ASEAN Basketball League, before returning to Japan once again to coach Rizing Fukuoka.
Love life and marriage
Joe was friends with Chubby Cox, a famous professional basketball player, who introduced Joe to his sister Pamela Cox in 1973. They dated for two years before marrying in a small ceremony in 1975, which was attended by their closest friends and family. Pam gave birth to their son Kobe Bryant on 23 August 1978, while his two sisters Sharia and Shaya followed in the next five years. Kobe became a professional basketball player, notably for the Los Angeles Lakers winning five NBA Championships. He died on 26 January 2020 when the helicopter he was riding in together with his 13-year old daughter and their six friends crashed into a Calabasas mountain. All eight died as well as the helicopter’s pilot.
Joe is also the uncle of John Arthur Cox IV, a Venezuelan-American professional basketball player.
Hobbies and other interests
Joe has spent most of his life exercising and practicing basketball, as well as teaching the game, and is also keen on playing a variety of other sports such as golf, tennis, and soccer. He plays chess too, but considers himself to be an amateur. Joe has been all around the world and lived in countries in Asia and Europe – one of his favorite hobbies is travelling. with his dream travel destination being Paris in France. He is a fan of animals and has had several pet dogs. while he is also a philanthropist who has donated money to help save endangered species from extinction.
Joe likes to watch movies in his spare time, and some of his favorite actors and actresses are Will Smith, Denzel Washington, and Rosario Dawson, while some of his favorite movies are “Seven Pounds”, “Enemy of the State”, and “I Am Legend”.
How much is Joe Bryant worth? Net worth and appearance
Joe is 65 years old. He is now bald, has brown eyes, is 6ft 9ins (2.06m) tall, and weighs around 185lbs (84kgs). As of May 2020, his net worth is estimated at over $5 million, while Kobe’s net worth at the time of his death was estimated at over $600 million.
Who was Kobe Bryant? Wiki Bio
Kobe Bean Bryant was born in Philadelphia, where he was raised alongside his sisters by Joe and Pamela – his name comes from the beef Kobe which is famous in Japan, and one of the most expensive meals on their menus.
Kobe was only three years old when he began playing basketball, and he was already cheering for the Los Angeles Lakers.
He was six years old when his father moved together with the family to Italy, which is how and where Joe learned how to speak Italian, and it was while living in Reggio Emilia that Kobe decided he wanted to become a professional basketball player. As is common in Europe, Kobe learned to play soccer, and started cheering for A. C. Milan, watching all of their soccer games on TV. He was 13 when his family returned to the US, and Kobe enrolled at Bala Cywynd Middle School before moving to Lower Merion High School. He became the school’s best basketball player, and was named Pennsylvania Player of the Year. Although he received scholarship offers from several colleges such as Duke University, University of North Carolina, and Villanova University, after matriculating in 1996, he decided to join the NBA.
He launched his professional career by signing his rookie contract worth $3.5 million with the Los Angeles Lakers, and at the time was the youngest player to compete in the NBA. As he was a rookie player, he spent most of his time on the bench, but as the time went by, the coach would give him more and more court time. After Phil Jackson took over the Lakers in 1999, the man who helped the Chicago Bulls win six championships, Kobe was made one of the most important players of the team, and the Lakers went on to win the NBA Championship in 2000, 2001, and 2002. At the start of the 2002-2003 season, Kobe was arrested on charges of sexual assault which made him miss several games, but the Lakers still made their way into the NBA finals, losing to the Detroit Pistons.
The Lakers would win their next championship in 2009, as well as in 2010. He spent most of the time from 2013 to 2015 injured causing the team not to win any NBA Championships, then retired after the 2015-2016 season.
He met Vanessa Laine in November 1999 and they married on 18 April 2001 in a ceremony, not attended by Kobe’s parents nor sisters as the family was against the marriage because Kobe was very young, and because Vanessa was not African-American. Vanessa gave birth to their first daughter in January 2003 which made things better between Kobe and his parents, then Vanessa suffered a miscarriage in 2005. In May 2006, their second daughter was born named Gianna Maria-Onore, but five years later, Vanessa filed for divorce, which was called off after two years, and she gave birth to their third daughter in December 2016. Their fourth daughter was born in June 2019.