WEBVTT - The Summer of '95 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:13.320 Diversion podcasts. I really thought to myself about the future, 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:16.840 and you know, I always came up with the same 0:00:16.880 --> 0:00:19.439 conclusion that I always wanted to be famous. When I 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:21.759 was a little I always wanted to be a great 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:25.880 basketball player. When you work hard, when you achieve something, 0:00:26.000 --> 0:00:28.760 you set a goal. My goal is to be a 0:00:28.760 --> 0:00:31.440 great basketball player. To be famous. Then you can expect that. 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:34.160 You know, you can't be on TV all the time 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:36.120 and not expect people you know who you are and 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:39.599 coming to you actually for autograph. So I accepted. I accepted, 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:42.600 and I saw pluss if I was a little kid 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:47.159 and I looked up at somebody and I wanted an autograph. 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:49.680 I want to basket with an autograph, and they said no, 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:53.760 I'd be crushed. So when somebody comes into me I 0:00:53.760 --> 0:01:12.520 asked for autograph, I'm not going I say short. In 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:16.080 the summer of the head coach and general manager of 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:19.520 the Philadelphia seventy sixers was a man named John Lucas. 0:01:20.280 --> 0:01:22.959 Lucas had spent a star crossed fourteen years in the 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:26.919 NBA as a quick, left handed and troubled point guard. 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:30.520 A drug and alcohol addiction had nearly ruined his career, 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:33.600 but he had turned his life around, and as a 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:36.600 coach he had a bit of a Pollyanna view of players. 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:40.080 He always saw the very very best in that always 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:43.840 believed they would reach their highest potential. He was a dreamer. 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:50.120 He just wasn't a particularly good NBA coach. During the season, 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:53.720 the Sixers won twenty four games under Lucas and lost 0:01:54.040 --> 0:01:57.920 fifty eight. Here, they blew a twenty one lead in 0:01:57.960 --> 0:02:00.720 a gut wrenching loss to chart Was Barkley and the 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:04.240 Phoenix Suns in front of their home crowd in Philly. 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:11.120 Final score the Sun setting a franchise record with their 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:16.120 ninth straight victory, and they do it in a most 0:02:16.200 --> 0:02:22.400 improbable way. At John Lucas will ruminate about this one 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:32.120 Phoenix one oh eight s seven. One night in March, 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:36.760 John Lucas attended a Lower Merion High School playoff game 0:02:36.919 --> 0:02:41.200 with his family at the Polesto. It wasn't that surprising 0:02:41.200 --> 0:02:44.040 for Lucas to attend the game, after all, his daughter 0:02:44.160 --> 0:02:47.120 Tarvia was a junior at Lower Marian. But just as 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:50.920 Lucas stepped into the arena, something did surprise him. He 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:53.239 ran into a guy who he had played against dozens 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:56.359 of times in the NBA, he ran into Joe Bryant. 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:00.480 John Lucas had heard of Kobe Bryant, but he didn't 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:03.919 know that Kobe was Joe's son. So after Lucas watched 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:07.520 Lower Marian win, after he watched Kobe scored twenty six 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:10.919 points in just twenty seven minutes of action, he got 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:14.320 an idea. Back then, it was common for pro and 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:18.080 college players to work out, scrimmage and play pickup games 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:20.800 together during the NBA off season, kind of like an 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:25.040 unofficial summer league. Lucas was so impressed with Kobe that 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:27.600 he thought the Sixers might be able to draft him 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:30.640 the following year. So he called up the Bryant's and 0:03:30.760 --> 0:03:33.120 asked if Kobe wanted to work out with the team 0:03:33.160 --> 0:03:36.760 that summer full court games at the field house at St. 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:41.080 Joseph's University and at nearby Episcopal Academy. Several of the 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:44.640 Sixers players would be there, including power forward Sharon Right 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:49.480 and the team's seven ft six inch center Shawn Bradley. 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:56.240 Kobe of course said yes. Then Lucas called his old 0:03:56.280 --> 0:04:00.560 backcourt mate and buddy from the University of Maryland, Mo Howard, 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:05.000 Joe's old friend from high school Lucas gave Howard an assignment. 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:08.760 It was his job to oversee these scrimmages and to 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:11.560 make sure that Kobe played in as many of them 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:15.320 as he wanted. Mo Howard still lives in Philadelphia and 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:17.760 he's still a big name in basketball around the city. 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:20.360 He gets asked about that summer of ninety five a lot, 0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:23.440 but he never minds talking about it. He was there 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:26.200 each day to see the turning point in Kobe Bryant's 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:32.720 basketball career and in his life. Finally, describe what you 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:38.000 saw from Kobe during that summer when John Lucas had 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:43.600 you running those scrimmages at St. Joe's in Episcopal Wow. Wow, 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:52.400 I'm Mike seal Scope and from Diversion Podcasts, this is 0:04:52.680 --> 0:05:04.280 I am Kobe st w state to create myself. Create yourself, 0:05:05.800 --> 0:05:11.360 very nice. Create yourself got a pretty great minds. But 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:32.240 we ain't time. Episode six. The summer of Mo Howard 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:35.320 had played with and against Kobe in Sunday morning pickup 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:38.360 games at a y m c A in Center City, Philadelphia, 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:42.200 back when Kobe was just thirteen years old. He knew 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:45.160 how good the kid was, at least he thought he knew, 0:05:46.000 --> 0:05:48.760 and he were playing those games and like he won 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:51.760 and held his own, but to play against the pros 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:55.680 at the level that he did was really surprised. In 0:05:55.800 --> 0:06:00.640 two story, so we're sitting there, it's Maurice Chiefs, myself 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:04.920 and Harold Cats. Just for the record, Maurice Cheeks was 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:07.440 a Hall of Fame point guard who spent eleven of 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:10.520 his fifteen NBA seasons with the Sixers. In the summer, 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:14.719 he was one of their assistant coaches, and Harold Katz 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:19.120 was the team's owner and a total basketball junkie. He 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:22.320 would stay up late to watch NBA games then quiz 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:26.520 his executives and coaches about players around the league. And 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:33.280 Carol Kats is watching Guys scimmage and he says about Kobe, 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:38.520 where is he from? And Maurice Cheeks says a Laura Marian. 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:43.080 Harold Katt says to Maurice, well, I don't want to 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:46.880 know where he lives, but where is he from? And 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:51.920 Maurice says He's from Lower Merion High School and Harold 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:56.320 Cats looks at him with his look of surprise, saying huh. 0:06:56.440 --> 0:06:58.760 And then Maurice goes on to tell him that he's 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:02.680 Joe Bryant's son, so even you know, the guy who 0:07:02.680 --> 0:07:07.400 was the owner of the team was very, very surprised 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:12.240 and how skilled Kobe was. At that time. Kobe wasn't 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:16.360 the only Lower Marian player competing in those scrimmages. Emery Dabney, 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:19.400 a talented point guard from West Philadelphia who had played 0:07:19.400 --> 0:07:22.720 summer ball with Kobe and the Aces, was transferring into 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:25.840 Lower Marian for his sophomore year. John Lucas had seen 0:07:25.880 --> 0:07:28.680 him play and invited him to the workouts too. It 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:31.720 was crazy. I remember the first couple of days, I 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:35.520 was nervous. It was very surreal, to be honest, because 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:38.080 as a fifth year on myself and you're playing with 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:40.640 these guys at an NBA. It was surreal. But then 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:43.080 after the first couple of workouts, you're like, okay, like 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:45.840 I used to playing with these guys. And who were 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:49.480 some of the guys in the gym. Richard Dumas, Vernon Maxwell, 0:07:50.600 --> 0:07:54.400 Jared Stockhouse, a guy who played in North Carolina named 0:07:54.400 --> 0:07:58.680 Donna Williams. Some pretty good players, uh, some older NBA. 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:00.520 I remember Willie Burton, I don't never remember that name 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:02.160 played for the six was back in the day. It 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:05.560 was some really good players and Kobe right away. Didn't 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:08.040 care who they were, he didn't care what they had 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:09.720 done before. He was trying to test to see how 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:11.360 good he was. So he was going right at all 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:14.120 those guys. And that's how kind of the robbery between 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:30.280 him and dark Stackhouse kind of started. Ah, Yes, Jerry Stackhouse. 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:33.760 When you hear anyone talk about Kobe's workouts in the 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:37.920 summer of you hear about Jerry Stackhouse. He had been 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:40.480 a high school phenom himself just a few years earlier, 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:43.839 and he'd become a human highlighted names during his time 0:08:43.880 --> 0:09:05.040 at North Carolina. He's He's Jaman, Slimming Crab, Jap, slip Little. 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:08.680 The Sixers had taken Stackhouse with a third overall pick 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:13.559 in NBA Draft. At North Carolina, he'd been Sports Illustrated 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:16.160 National Player of the Year and had taken the tar 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:18.960 Heels to the Final Four. He was supposed to be 0:09:19.000 --> 0:09:23.040 the Sixer savior. Stackhouse was playing in those summer scrimmages 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:25.480 and pickup games too, and you would have thought he 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:29.480 would dominate them and Kobe, except their battles on the 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:32.240 court back then have taken on the aura of myth 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:35.360 and legend ever since. In a way that has always 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:41.920 put Stackhouse in Kobe shadow. I saw this. I watched 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:46.640 those scrimmages. I watched those workouts, and you know, there 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:51.280 were some days that Jerry would get the best of Kobe, 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:54.000 and there were some days that Kobe would get the 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:57.760 best of Jerry. But Kobe did it in a more 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:03.280 spectacular fashion, right. So I witnessed one day we were 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:07.640 scrimmaging out Episcopal Bowl and Kobe and Jerry were going 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:11.720 head to head with each other as they did, and 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:15.679 Maurice Cheeks and I was standing there watching, and if 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:19.760 I'm mistaken, Jerry Stackhouse was the second pick that year. 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:25.240 He was a third pick. So Maurice Cheeks looks at 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:30.760 me and he says, if Jerry Stackhouse is number three, 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:35.800 Kobe has to be three. A Kobe's friend, Jeremy Treatment, 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:38.520 who was about to go from covering him to coaching him, 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:41.760 went to two of those scrimmages. Listened to his voice 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:44.560 as he tells me his impressions of Kobe from those games. 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:47.960 And he wasn't backing down anybody. He had a boldness 0:10:48.000 --> 0:10:51.240 about him. The thing that was so called when Joe 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:53.560 Bryant called me and said, I don't even need to go. 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:56.280 Sean Bradley calls the house and says, I'll pick up. 0:10:56.280 --> 0:10:59.199 At seven. They were picking him up. They wounded him 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:02.880 to come. He seemed a little young, but he also 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:06.040 seemed like it belonged. It just was like he's sixteen 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:08.480 and he's playing with twenty seven year old NBA players. 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:12.640 It was It was kind of crazy. But I was 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:14.920 not surprised that he held his own I was not 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:17.360 surprised that he gave from Stackhouse all he could handle. 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:32.840 Stackhouse did not take kindly to these comparisons to Code. 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:36.280 He still doesn't. He's now the head men's basketball coach 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:39.120 at Vanderbilt University, and when I reached out to him 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:42.120 and Vanderbilt Sports information office to see if he would 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:44.600 speak to me from my book about Kobe, he declined. 0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:47.520 And he kind of has a point. By the time 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:50.280 the Sixers drafted him, he had already been compared to 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:53.199 Michael Jordan's mostly because both of them had gone to 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:56.480 North Carolina and were high flying acrobats when they had 0:11:56.480 --> 0:12:00.040 the basketball in their hands and a chance to dunk it. 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:03.880 But Michael and Kobe were guards, straight up shooting guards. 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:08.320 Stackhouse wasn't Stackhouse had played power forward in high school 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:11.640 and at North Carolina. He had never played guard in 0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:15.080 his life until the Sixers drafted him. He wasn't used 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:19.600 to chasing smaller, quicker players around screens or squaring up 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:22.800 for twenty ft jump shots. He and Kobe had different 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:26.600 sets of skills and were different players, and people thought 0:12:26.640 --> 0:12:30.360 the teenager was better. It was a total no win 0:12:30.480 --> 0:12:34.400 situation for Stackhouse. If he was better than Kobe, well 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:37.640 he should be. Kobe was just a high school kid. 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:40.880 And if Kobe out played him, what did that say 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:43.199 about the guy who was supposed to be the Sixers 0:12:43.240 --> 0:12:48.000 franchise player. His frustration was growing with every scrimmage. Here's 0:12:48.000 --> 0:12:52.960 Emery Dabney. Then at one point they Stackhouse started found 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:54.960 him hard and they almost got into it. They you know, 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:57.199 Stackhouse grabbed them and we had to kind of break them. 0:12:57.240 --> 0:13:00.320 Those two up. He was relentless because, like I said, 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:02.679 for a guy in high school who's not even is 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:05.040 going at the number one overall pick, like going at 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:09.240 him relentlessly. It was kind of crazy. And but honestly, 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:11.680 Brendon Maxwell, I don't know if you remember les called 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:15.320 Mad Max. He he's the one that really instigated it 0:13:15.720 --> 0:13:18.520 because I remembers meet him and Kovid in the same team. 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:20.240 I forget who the other two players were. But every 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:22.439 time he gave Covid a ball and Stackhouse was gardener, 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:27.079 he would just go kill him, kill him, like for 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:30.599 the whole, the whole possession. And it was like no 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:32.480 one else would touch the ball, and Renna Maxwell come 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:34.880 down and give him the ball, tell him to kill him. 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:38.319 So after a while, you know, Stackhouse wasn't too happy 0:13:38.320 --> 0:13:42.960 about him. No, Stackhouse wasn't happy. But Kobe had to 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:49.800 be elated. Here he was holding his own against NBA players, 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:54.000 and he was just turning seventeen that August, and often 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:56.760 he was more than holding his own. In fact, to 0:13:56.880 --> 0:14:00.679 put it bluntly, Kobe was showing that he already surpassed 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:02.960 some of them when it came to the intangibles that 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:06.280 were necessary to succeed in the league. When I was 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:09.200 talking to Mo Howard about those games, he said something 0:14:09.240 --> 0:14:11.920 about Kobe that has stuck in my memory ever since. 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:16.240 It captured perfectly the player Kobe was then and the 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:23.240 player he would become. What I saw was unique work. 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:28.600 Unlike any of the other pros and college players who 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:33.880 participated in those open runs. H he was the first 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:36.920 one there every day. He was the last one of 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:43.320 these every day, every day without fail. I just couldn't 0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:47.400 believe that he was that highly skilled, like playing against 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:52.920 pro guys. He was so highly skilled and motivated that, 0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:59.160 you know, I was a little surprised. Kobe's workouts didn't 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:02.080 involve just best the ball either. He and Dabney would 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:05.080 run on the track at St. Joseph's University too, before 0:15:05.120 --> 0:15:07.720 heading to the field House to play. A few days 0:15:07.760 --> 0:15:10.680 that summer, the field House was closed, so the NBA 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:13.400 guys would be playing at the gym at Episcopal Academy, 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:16.440 which was right across the strungle track. Minds just August 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:18.840 and we would get in the car and when you 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:21.520 drive over to a pisco, you know, I'm probably not 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:24.400 even a two minute drive. It's outfter the workouts, you know. 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:27.680 I get in the car Kobe and it's uh ninety 0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:30.680 degrees outside, and he pulls the windows up and he 0:15:30.720 --> 0:15:33.560 turns the heat on, and I'm like, Kobe, like, what 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:35.200 are you doing? I might have a heart attack and 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:37.760 I can't what are you doing? He's like, I'm about 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:39.560 to go play in the stackhouse. I gotta stay warm. 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:41.960 I don't want to cool down before before I play. 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:44.080 I'm like, all right, what do you I can't do this. 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:45.560 I have a heart attack. And he stops at the 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:51.680 light and he goes, you can get out, Kobe. Let 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:54.440 him crack the window a little. But I can't think 0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:57.480 of a better metaphor for who Kobe Bryant was then 0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:02.200 and where he thought, no, where he knew he was going. 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:06.000 If you're with me, if you believe in me, if 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:08.840 you're willing to sacrifice like I am, you can come 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:25.520 along for the ride. If you're not, you can get out. Hey. 0:16:25.560 --> 0:16:28.800 This is Mike Selsky, host and writer of I Am Kobe. 0:16:29.280 --> 0:16:31.560 This podcast project came out of my work on a 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:35.600 related book called The Rise Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit 0:16:35.600 --> 0:16:38.640 of Immortality. If you want to explore other parts of 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:42.040 Kobe's story, check out The Rise. It's not just a 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:45.200 book version of the podcast. I dive deeper into some 0:16:45.280 --> 0:16:47.960 of the topics covered in this series, and even some 0:16:48.040 --> 0:16:51.320 that we don't cover at all. Kobe's upbringing, his family, 0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:54.840 his identity, his effect on his friends and teammates, his 0:16:54.960 --> 0:16:57.600 journey into the n b A, and his earliest days 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:01.400 with the Lakers. The Rise Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:04.919 of Immortality is out now. Just head over to the 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:08.560 Rise of Kobe book dot Com and you can buy 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:12.280 it from any of your favorite retailers. That's the Rise 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:36.600 of Kobe book dot Com. Thanks. When Kobe wasn't running 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:38.760 full court with Jerry Stackhouse and the rest of those 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:41.960 guys and those uber intense pickup games, he was traveling 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:45.159 around the United States on his Amateur Athletic Union teams 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:48.280 better known as the a U Circuit. He was up 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:50.760 and down the East coast of Las Vegas, all over, 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:53.680 going to camps, playing in tournaments with other big time 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:57.399 college recruits. Of course, given his plans and goals, it 0:17:57.480 --> 0:18:00.560 might not be right to call him a recruit. The 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:02.800 highlight of that summer of ninety five was in early 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:06.199 July in te Neck, New Jersey, at the prestigious A 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:09.320 b c D Camp, which was sponsored by Adidas and 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:13.600 sneaker mogul Sonny Vacar Picaro had founded A B c D. 0:18:13.840 --> 0:18:18.040 In The camp gathered the highest ranked high school players 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:21.720 in the country in one place. It was considered the 0:18:21.920 --> 0:18:25.359 marquee event of the summer in high school hoops. Greg 0:18:25.400 --> 0:18:28.760 Downer and Mike Egan, Kobe's coaches at Lower Marian, went 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:32.639 up there to see him play. Here's Egan. He was 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:36.639 just phenomenal. There he was and were a lot of 0:18:36.640 --> 0:18:39.440 the kids. And this is where his maturity really came 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:41.520 into play, where a lot of these guys were looking 0:18:41.560 --> 0:18:45.639 at it as fun and show voting and who you know, 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:48.520 how many guys sent me? And he was there because 0:18:48.600 --> 0:18:52.040 at that point he was considered a top five player 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:56.920 in the country. In Tim Thomas, Leicester are all Jeremain 0:18:57.480 --> 0:19:00.840 Neal and sometimes you hollow it was you a little 0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:04.040 higher than him. And Kobe went up there and never 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:05.840 said of this. Does we know he even up there 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:07.440 with a mission. He wants to come out of there 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:11.520 being called the number one player in the country. And 0:19:12.080 --> 0:19:14.280 at the end of that week he was the consensus 0:19:14.320 --> 0:19:24.920 not a one player in country. Kobe had scored ten 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:27.520 eighty out of a possible six on his s A 0:19:27.640 --> 0:19:30.119 T S. He was a very good student. He had 0:19:30.160 --> 0:19:34.040 grown particularly close to his tenth grade English teacher, Jeane Mastriano. 0:19:34.560 --> 0:19:37.359 In fact, she became an intellectual mentor to him. The 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:40.560 two of them remained in touch throughout his life. Mastriano 0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:43.000 spent a lot of time in her class delving into 0:19:43.040 --> 0:19:46.680 the concept of the hero's journey. Her students watched Star 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:50.119 Wars and class, for example, to understand the symbolism behind 0:19:50.200 --> 0:19:54.280 Luke Skywalker's path to becoming a Jedi, they read Joseph 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:58.480 Campbell's famous book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Mastriano 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:03.359 told me that Kobe loved it all. One of the 0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:06.439 things that he really soaked up was the hero's journey, 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:09.040 which is something I talked about at the beginning of 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:10.880 the year, throughout the year. At the end of the year, 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:13.520 it kind of followed the arc of the whole year, 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:16.440 the whole idea that you're going into an unknown here 0:20:16.480 --> 0:20:18.359 and you need to take risks. We all need to 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:20.720 take risks, and if you don't take risks, then you're 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:22.920 not going to happen experience. It's going to be exhilarating. 0:20:22.960 --> 0:20:25.679 We need to scare yourself. Do you think he saw 0:20:25.800 --> 0:20:29.920 himself on that kind of hero's journey. Absolutely. He believed 0:20:30.200 --> 0:20:32.520 in his number one dream, which was that he was 0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:35.399 going to realize his life as a basketball player, and 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:37.000 that he was going to go in that direction. He 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:39.240 was convinced he was going to do that. How could 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:42.119 he be so sure though, especially at such an early 0:20:42.200 --> 0:20:57.280 stage of his life. Where did that confidence come from? 0:20:57.320 --> 0:20:59.840 I think there's a clue in something Mastriano told me. 0:21:00.560 --> 0:21:03.160 I asked her what Kobe was like in class, how 0:21:03.200 --> 0:21:06.199 he carried himself, how he acted and behaved. You know, 0:21:06.280 --> 0:21:09.200 the stereotype of the high school jock doesn't care much 0:21:09.200 --> 0:21:12.080 about his grades, doesn't need to worry about his homework 0:21:12.280 --> 0:21:14.520 because he's going to get a football scholarship or a 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:18.800 basketball scholarship, or a swimming scholarship. That wasn't Kobe. He 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:23.320 had this relentless curiosity, and he challenged Mastriano just like 0:21:23.400 --> 0:21:25.960 she would challenge him, in a good way, not in 0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:28.520 a bad way. He was confident that he could go 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:31.240 back and forth with her that because of his life 0:21:31.240 --> 0:21:34.720 experiences and the path he was on, he already existed 0:21:34.760 --> 0:21:39.560 on her level intellectually and professionally, and she in turn 0:21:39.880 --> 0:21:43.359 appreciated that quality in him. He wasn't much of a talker, 0:21:43.400 --> 0:21:46.919 but the energy that he exhumed was palpable. Since I 0:21:46.920 --> 0:21:50.360 have when I looked back on him, somebody wouldn't hesitate 0:21:50.400 --> 0:21:53.320 to say, why are we learning this? Not in a 0:21:53.440 --> 0:21:57.080 terribly antagonistic way, but like, this is just not doing 0:21:57.080 --> 0:21:59.120 a thing for me. I don't see where this is going. 0:21:59.720 --> 0:22:03.200 Could it please justify? And I love that. I love 0:22:03.240 --> 0:22:08.480 the kid who's edgy, who's argumentative. It's just such wonderful 0:22:10.280 --> 0:22:14.440 than There was no question that Kobe could get into 0:22:14.480 --> 0:22:17.560 any college he wanted, but it was becoming obvious to 0:22:17.600 --> 0:22:20.679 everyone around him how his focus was narrowing to just 0:22:20.880 --> 0:22:23.640 one thing, basketball, you know. And then here's Mikey when 0:22:23.720 --> 0:22:25.760 he worked at things so much. His junior year, he 0:22:25.840 --> 0:22:28.000 was a student. He was still trying to get his 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:30.040 grades up and his s A T s up and 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:32.600 make sure there was no issues with college, which there 0:22:32.640 --> 0:22:35.200 would not have been anyway. But every day he got 0:22:35.200 --> 0:22:38.440 better and every day he we saw something from him 0:22:38.520 --> 0:22:40.440 that we'd be lying if we said we knew he 0:22:40.480 --> 0:22:43.560 could be would be an vy a superstar as a junior. 0:22:44.400 --> 0:22:48.400 But then between his junior and senior year, that's when 0:22:48.440 --> 0:22:51.880 his game really elevated. And when he came back as 0:22:51.920 --> 0:22:55.160 a senior, it was all basketball. And then we started 0:22:55.160 --> 0:22:58.280 looking at each other and say, this kid's gonna be really, 0:22:58.280 --> 0:23:05.400 really something. The expectations for Lower Marian's basketball team Kobe's 0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:07.960 senior year were just about as high as the expectations 0:23:08.000 --> 0:23:11.640 for its star player. Anything less than a district championship 0:23:12.040 --> 0:23:16.080 or state championship or both would be considered a disappointment. 0:23:16.920 --> 0:23:19.560 But in an early season test at Kobe's old stopping 0:23:19.560 --> 0:23:22.520 grounds from the summer, the St. Joe's field House, the 0:23:22.600 --> 0:23:26.840 Aces got stopped by Saint Anthony of Jersey City. St. 0:23:26.840 --> 0:23:28.720 Anthony was one of the two or three best high 0:23:28.760 --> 0:23:31.520 school teams in the country, maybe the best, and they 0:23:31.520 --> 0:23:34.159 were coached by the great Bob Hurley, a member of 0:23:34.200 --> 0:23:37.760 the Basketball Hall of Fame. This clip from CBS explains 0:23:37.760 --> 0:23:42.240 both Curly's accolades and his dedications to the program. With 0:23:42.359 --> 0:23:49.680 an unyielding determination and by relentlessly striving for perfection on 0:23:49.680 --> 0:23:53.760 the floor, Bob Hurley has built the basketball program at St. 0:23:53.800 --> 0:24:00.960 Anthony's High School into a perennial powerhouse, and we're getting 0:24:01.000 --> 0:24:04.480 ready for the state tournament. We can't go down and 0:24:04.680 --> 0:24:08.320 just run nothing. Flawa Marian was never really in the 0:24:08.320 --> 0:24:13.200 game against St. Anthony. They lost by fifteen points, and 0:24:13.320 --> 0:24:16.200 Kobe had twenty eight of those forty seven points. A 0:24:16.280 --> 0:24:20.240 quarter century later, Curly still remembers that game and Kobe's 0:24:20.240 --> 0:24:23.280 performance in it very well eight really, and he had 0:24:23.280 --> 0:24:25.679 no he had no help tony other players. We were 0:24:25.720 --> 0:24:28.880 able to cheat off them and uh, you know, help 0:24:28.920 --> 0:24:31.520 against him. And then after the game, he come over 0:24:31.560 --> 0:24:33.919 to me and asked if we could talk, and we 0:24:33.960 --> 0:24:36.880 sat down and sat down on the bleachers at St. 0:24:36.960 --> 0:24:40.679 Joe's and he talked about what things I think he 0:24:40.800 --> 0:24:43.800 needed to do to become up at a player. And 0:24:43.840 --> 0:24:46.240 I remember talking to him about how the first half 0:24:46.320 --> 0:24:49.919 had ended with we had stolen the ball from him 0:24:50.000 --> 0:24:52.199 and we scored to end half and I put us 0:24:52.240 --> 0:24:55.000 up one and he kind of put his chin down 0:24:55.040 --> 0:24:57.240 and kind of walked off the court. And the second 0:24:57.280 --> 0:24:59.960 half sought it, and the first four minutes of the 0:25:00.080 --> 0:25:04.119 second half he wasn't dominant like he could be. And 0:25:04.160 --> 0:25:07.960 I talked to him about his reaction to that mistake 0:25:08.720 --> 0:25:13.280 and how how important erasing that mistake would be with 0:25:13.440 --> 0:25:15.760 the way he would play early in the second half 0:25:15.800 --> 0:25:20.159 of the game. Totally understood, thank me so much for it. 0:25:20.320 --> 0:25:23.240 And then you know, we farther ways, but you know, 0:25:23.400 --> 0:25:26.800 he just was mature beyond his years. But we played 0:25:26.800 --> 0:25:30.240 against unbelievable players over the years, and he's the best 0:25:30.240 --> 0:25:33.119 player we ever played against. You know you're sek average 0:25:33.119 --> 0:25:36.960 over thirty game where people got thirty against St. Anthony, say, 0:25:36.960 --> 0:25:51.200 should have got a trophy. That's no minor compliment from 0:25:51.200 --> 0:25:54.080 a coach like Bob Hurley, And it was pretty revealing 0:25:54.240 --> 0:25:57.000 that Kobe would seize the opportunity to sit down with 0:25:57.040 --> 0:26:00.439