Kobe Bryant Hall of Fame

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Jimmy Csapo, Writer

Kobe Bryant, also known as the “Black Mamba”, was recently just inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Around sixteen months ago, Kobe and his daughter Gigi got into a fatal helicopter crash that sadly led to their death. Everybody in the world loved Kobe Bryant for not just being a basketball player, but instead he showed everyone how he defeats the odds against him. 

In addition to Bryant, who won five NBA titles and was an eighteen time all star, the Class of 2020 featured Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Eddie Sutton, Rudy Tomjanovich, Tamika Catchings, Kim Mylkey, Barbara Stevens, and Patrick Baumann. Usually, all of the players make a speech for being inducted into the Hall of Fame; Bryant’s speech was presented by Michael Jordan before and Bryant’s wife. 

As Vanessa spoke to a crowd of Hall of Famers and fans, she paused to take deep breaths to control her emotions. During every applause break, her four-year-old daughter, Bianca, would clap with the crowd, celebrating her father’s career when she was not kicking her legs or playing with her golden dress. 

According to the Los Angeles times , a part of Vanessa Bryant’s speech went like this:“If my husband were here tonight, he’d have a long list of people to thank that helped inspire him and equip him to be in the Hall of Fame — family, friends, mentors, the Lakers, teammates, muses and opponents. This is one of the many hard parts about not having him here. At the risk of leaving anyone out, I can only say thank you,” Vanessa said. “To all those who helped him get here, you know who you are, and I thank you on his behalf. I don’t have a speech prepared by my husband because he winged every single speech. He was intelligent, eloquent and gifted at many things, including public speaking.”

It was an emotional night for a lot of the NBA players that were present at the Hall of Fame ceremony. Kobe affected everybody’s life in a different way in that building. The impact he made on the game of basketball and everybody around the world is truly incredible. Also, all of the players spoke out as well to show their respect for Kobe Bryant and their stories with him. After all, the Black Mamba is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, and he will not just be remembered for the things he did on the court.