Former NBA player Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, father of Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant, died at the age of 69. Longtime Philadelphia-area basketball coach Fran Dunphy, who currently is the head coach at La Salle University (where Bryant played and coached), told the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Mike Sielski that Bryant recently suffered a massive stroke.
LaSalle Men’s Basketball wrote on social media: “We are saddened to announce the passing of La Salle basketball great Joe Bryant. Joe played for the Explorers from 1973-75 and was a member of our coaching staff from 1993-96. He was a beloved member of the Explorer family and will be dearly missed.”
Joe Bryant played and coached professionally both in the United States and internationally after starring at La Salle, where he averaged 20.8 points per game in two seasons with the Explorers. He was a first-round draft selection of the Golden State Warriors in 1975 before being acquired later that year by the Philadelphia 76ers. The 6-foot-9 Bryant played parts of eight seasons in the NBA with the Sixers, Clippers and Rockets, averaging 8.7 points and 4.0 rebounds in 606 career games. He was a member of the 1976-77 Sixers team that lost to the Trail Blazers in the NBA Finals.
After eight seasons in the NBA, the elder Bryant played internationally for nearly a decade overseas in France and Italy. He was the head coach for the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks for parts of three seasons and also coached in various roles at both the professional and college levels in the U.S., Japan and Thailand.
The Sixers said in a statement: “Joe ‘Jellybean’ Bryant was a local basketball icon, whose legacy on the court transcended his journey across Bartram High School, La Salle University, and his first four NBA seasons with the 76ers from 1975-79. Our condolences go out to the Bryant family.”
Pistons vice chairman Arn Tellem and Kobe Bryant’s former agent said in a statement: “I’m deeply saddened by the passing of Joe ‘Jellybean’ Bryant and join the basketball community in mourning a true Philly hoops legend. Our friendship opened the door for me to represent Kobe as he entered the NBA, a memory I’ll always cherish. Joe was a devoted husband, father and grandfather, whose warmth touched everyone he met.”
Bryant’s death comes four years after Kobe and his daughter Gianna (Gigi) Bryant, along with seven others, died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, as the group was making its way to a basketball tournament; since that tragedy, Joe Bryant seldom appeared in public. It had been widely publicized that Kobe and his parents, Joe and Pam Bryant, had a difficult relationship over the years; and Vanessa Bryant, Kobe’s widow, alluded to their relationship in a post Tuesday on her Instagram Story: “Sending our condolences upon hearing the news of my father in law’s passing. We hoped things would’ve been different. Although the times we spent together were few, he was always sweet and nice to be around. Kobe loved him very much.”
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