WEBVTT - Remembering Greatness 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:19.800 Diversion podcasts, Born next next and only going into met 0:00:19.840 --> 0:00:23.159 the government will be like I did that. We just 0:00:23.239 --> 0:00:26.319 said we found out how this already noted. It was 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:29.240 going on the way back on the bus ride, like 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:32.000 two hour bus ride. Bus had a leak in, it 0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:34.680 was raining, rain, got bustings in the head. The only 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:37.720 thee was fun because we were point another. We're making 0:00:37.800 --> 0:00:39.559 jokes on win another and having a good time. You 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:42.319 know we always do with a basketball here. That's that's 0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:46.599 the only found fight about it. That was Kobe Bryant 0:00:46.680 --> 0:00:49.920 with his friend and confident Jeremy Treatment from the spring 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:54.280 of talking about one of the last obligations that Kobe 0:00:54.320 --> 0:00:57.440 had to fulfill during his time as a student and 0:00:57.480 --> 0:01:01.520 a basketball star at Lower Merion High School. He and 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:04.160 his teammates and coaches had taken a bus trip out 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:07.560 to Harrisburg, the state capital, to meet Governor Tom Ridge 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:10.440 and to receive a special acknowledgement from the state legislature. 0:01:10.760 --> 0:01:13.480 It was one of Kobe's last opportunities to be a 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:17.480 kid among other kids before almost everything in his life 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:34.560 changed forever. Nearly twenty four years later, on the afternoon 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:39.160 of Sunday, January, I was driving home from my in 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:43.360 law's house. My wife had gone grocery shopping. Our sons, 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:47.040 Evan and Gabe were in the car with me. Evan 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:50.760 was eight at the time, Gabe was five. At a stoplight, 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:53.960 I picked up my phone and checked my Twitter feed 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:58.120 Britney moves in this Sunday afternoon. Five time NBA champion 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:03.080 former League MVP Kobe Bryant died earlier this afternoon in 0:02:03.160 --> 0:02:06.080 Los Angeles and a helicopter crashed. The news reports are 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:09.880 just coming in among multiple victims. Kobe Bryant on that helicopter. 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:13.079 We're gonna have. Ramona Shelbern joined us now from Los Angeles. 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:18.880 She is what Kobe Bryant had died. I actually said 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:21.919 what out loud in the car, and Evan got a 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:25.520 little worried, wondering what was wrong. I played it off, 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:28.840 told him, oh, nothing. I didn't bring it up until 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:31.080 we had gotten home ten minutes later and I parked 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:33.320 the car. We are coming back on the air with 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:36.880 new details and the tragic death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant. 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:39.919 ABC News confirming the five time NBA champion for the 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:42.800 Los Angeles Lakers was among five people killed when a 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:46.560 helicopter crashed and caught fire in southern California. Authorities in 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:48.520 Los Angeles County are holding a news coup. I off 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:51.120 handedly told Evan what had happened. I was trying not 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:53.040 to make a big deal out of it, Like he 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:54.800 had just gotten off the school bus and I was 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:57.640 asking him how his day had been. Besides, we had 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:00.240 to hustle. He had to get changed and he had 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:03.000 to head right out again. He had, of all things, 0:03:03.400 --> 0:03:07.360 a basketball game. As Evan was putting his uniform on, though, 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:09.520 I had to make a phone call. I searched my 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:13.520 contacts for Jeremy Treatment's number. Tell me about the day 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:16.240 he got. What were you doing that goes on the 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:31.760 phone with you. I'm Mike Sealsky and from Diversion Podcasts. 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:39.240 This is I am cobD wat sne wht Slee to 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:47.280 Create myself Saigned signs up and create yourself. Say nice, 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:51.840 go on, create yourself. You gotta line of fren great minds, 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:56.720 but we ain't line. Tell him that's getting time, Episode ten, 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:15.360 Remembering Greatness. Two things happen when someone famous dies, especially 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:18.640 when that person dies before their time. The first is 0:04:18.640 --> 0:04:21.760 something we all do. If that figure meant something to you, 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:25.080 like Kobe meant something to so many. We mark the 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:29.280 moment we burn into our brains exactly where we were, 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:31.920 what we were doing when we learned that this person 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:35.840 was gone. Millions of people did that. When Kobe Bryant died, 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:38.239 I happened to be in a car with my kids. 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:41.440 Maybe you were at church, or at your daughters swim meet, 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:44.039 or sitting with your feet up in your living room. 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:48.360 Doesn't matter. You don't forget it. But there's something else, 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:51.600 and it happens only to people who knew the person. 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:55.880 You review your own life and you try to figure 0:04:55.920 --> 0:05:00.080 out where you fit into their life. You remember the 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:04.120 best times you had together, the hardest times, the times 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:07.320 that made you smile and laugh, the times that made 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:11.400 you furious. You remember the last time you saw them, 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:14.960 the last time you spoke, the last time they crossed 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:19.920 your mind. Aren't tell him. Kobe's first agent went through 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:23.600 that process when Kobe died. At that point, tell him 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:28.920 hadn't represented Kobe in about twenty years. He actually retired 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:31.719 from being an agent and became an executive with the 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:35.479 Detroit Pistons, And it was in Detroit where he and 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:39.360 Kobe talked in person for the last time during Kobe's 0:05:39.400 --> 0:05:45.240 final season with the Lakers. We certainly had our you know, 0:05:45.360 --> 0:05:48.920 issues where we disagreed, but I have to say that 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:51.800 in the end he was always great to me and 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:56.800 my family and my kids. And then, you know, five 0:05:56.880 --> 0:06:00.520 years ago write something, Chop of the Pistons called to 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:03.640 congratulate me. And when I saw him in Detroit as 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:06.200 last year, my first year of the businesses, last year 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:09.520 playing with the Lakers, came up to before the game, 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:12.000 gave me a hug, thanking for everything, and you know, 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:15.040 I couldn't have been nicer. And he asked me if 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:17.479 I was happy what I was doing and and I said, 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:19.919 you know how life is. You have to always change 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:21.920 and adapt and challenge yourself. And I said, you're gonna 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:23.640 do the same thing as you go into your nice 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:26.360 chapter and I'll never forget. He said, yeah, my next 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:28.440 chapter will even be greater, and they ran off further. 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:40.960 John Paul tell him had known Kobe a long time. 0:06:41.279 --> 0:06:43.880 Kobe's friends from Lower Marion had known him even longer 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:47.039 from spending the last year and a half talking to 0:06:47.080 --> 0:06:50.360 them from my book and for this podcast, I can 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:53.760 tell you the Kobe's death affected those people who knew 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:56.799 him when he was a kid in a different way 0:06:57.279 --> 0:07:01.280 than it did just about anyone else. I'm not suggesting 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:04.599 that Kobe's Lakers teammates or his friends from the NBA 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:08.160 weren't profoundly saddened by his death. I'm not saying that 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:12.960 at all. But the connection between Kobe and people like 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:16.760 Jeremy Treatment and his high school coach Greg Downer, and 0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:21.000 his classmates and teammates from Lower Marian was something else Entirely. 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:26.720 They knew him before he was a star. They bonded 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:30.080 with him when he occupied a space somewhere closer to 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:34.360 our own, before he became a star. Then they watched 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:37.800 him become a star. It's like they were friends with 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:44.560 Peter Parker before that. Radioactive Spider bidden listen to his 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:48.120 friend Guy Stewart, his teammate at Lower Marian, talk about 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:50.760 what it was like to find out that Kobe had died. 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:55.560 Guy was getting calls and text messages, dozens of them 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:58.680 from people who knew him and knew Kobe, but he 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:03.120 didn't want to believe them. And then I remember the 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:06.760 moment I see it on CNN, and I'm like, I 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:10.760 started like, I'm like my body shaking, I can't like 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:14.720 focus on anything. It has been confirmed CNN is able 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:18.400 to tell you now that NBA star Kobe Bryant was 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:21.440 on board that helicopter and is now dead at the 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:25.560 age of forty one. Or Christine Brooke, I'm like texting everybody. 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:28.560 I call a sister. She doesn't answer, and I'm like, 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:31.840 all right, well, like what's what's going on? Not to 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:34.640 say that she always answers my calls or whatever like that, 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:38.839 but Texas cousin no response. I'm like, this can't be true. 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:45.280 And I'm just like stuck in my seat and I 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:48.400 just couldn't think of anything. And you know, once they 0:08:48.440 --> 0:08:52.280 confirmed it, it was just like complete just breakdown. You know, 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:55.520 like you expect to see this guy who was like 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:58.800 Superman to everybody that he that that knew him personally, 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:02.040 even you know, even if you didn't know him person 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:04.600 you just think, like, that's not supposed to happen to 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:07.560 a guy like that, That's not supposed to happen to 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:11.560 his daughter, you know, and you almost questioned God's plan, 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:14.680 like how like how could this happen? Do you expect 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:19.040 like the blame the crash and he's like holding everybody 0:09:19.040 --> 0:09:23.000 in his arms and they come out and he's fine, 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:26.000 you know, or just like the story is just just 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:28.120 isn't true. And I still can't believe it to this day. 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:31.640 I still can't believe that he's gone to this day. Um, 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:34.080 but yeah, I remember that day like like it was yesterday. 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:40.600 Emery Dabney, the point guard and Lower Marrion State championship team, 0:09:40.760 --> 0:09:43.679 the kid who had joined Kobe for those scrimmages and 0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:47.360 pickup games at St. Joseph's and Episcopal during the summer, 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:51.320 was doing pretty much the same thing I was doing 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:54.440 on that day. He was going grocery shopping with his wife. 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:57.400 It was so crazy because I had a friend who 0:09:57.400 --> 0:09:59.079 had found an old picture of me and Kobe and 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:01.040 it just text me picture of us maybe like an 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:05.000 hour before. We're driving home and I get a cough. 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:06.760 My friend who lives in l A and he's kind 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:09.120 of scene out there. Well, one of our teammates from 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:12.600 college actually, and he told me, he's like, yeah, Kobe 0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:16.320 died up the helicopter crash. Like you're you're a line, 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:18.760 there's no way look at the Hollida. He's like, I'm 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:20.319 telling you and this is before the news of broke, 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:22.640 so he's like Emory and he's kind of a prankster. 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:25.520 So I was like, you're you're full of ship on it. 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:28.600 There's no way in the world that that happened. So 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:30.560 he's like, Imry, I'm serious. And I got calls from 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:33.559 people like I'm telling you. So we kept driving. I'm like, 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:36.600 this be So my wife is looking on her phone 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:39.480 for the news and we don't see anything. Calling back, 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:41.199 I'm like, there's nothing on the news. You're you're you know, 0:10:41.240 --> 0:10:43.360 you're full of ship, and like maybe like forty or 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:58.360 five minutes later, the news broke. Jeremy Treatment was the 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:01.920 guy I knew best was close to Kobe. When I 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:04.560 called him that day, I just wanted to touch base 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:06.920 with him, to see what he knew and how he 0:11:06.960 --> 0:11:10.400 was doing. He was at Jefferson University in the East 0:11:10.400 --> 0:11:13.800 Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia. He was overseeing a high school 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:16.720 basketball tournament there and a big game was about to 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:20.840 start between German Town Academy and Newman Garrett, two of 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:23.440 the top teams in the Philadelphia about all this and 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:25.240 all of a sudden, and I was getting his text, 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:27.959 and the first text came from my friend Jeff Isais 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:31.280 is probably the biggest jokester I know, so how ironic 0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:33.360 He's the biggest jokes right now. It's it And it's like, 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:38.800 I see this little image from t MC. It says 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:42.360 Kobe Bryant eyes in helicopter crash. I got twelve people 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:44.400 around me, so it's not like I was at home, 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:46.600 just you know, sitting there. It could be glued to it, 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:50.240 and I'm like, well, like like I I didn't think 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:53.120 it was real. And then I got another one and 0:11:53.120 --> 0:11:58.560 another one and I think you called it's called I'm like, 0:11:58.720 --> 0:12:02.360 oh my god, this is just happening. This is this 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:06.520 is real. Listen carefully to this next part. There were 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:09.559 children playing in a pool in a house near Jeremy's 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:13.400 while I was recording him. In the background, you can 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:16.520 hear one of the kids crying. I think of that 0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:21.120 every time I listen to what Jeremy says. Next, I 0:12:21.200 --> 0:12:23.800 broke down for a minute talking to this guy del 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:26.400 Greco Wilson and who I knew, and this other guy 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:29.079 came over. I didn't know who he was, and I 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:30.559 I put my head on the shoulder and I started 0:12:30.559 --> 0:12:32.679 to a complete stranger. To this day, I don't know 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:53.720 who it was. Hey, this is Mike Sealsky, host and 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:57.439 writer of I Am Kobe. This podcast project came out 0:12:57.440 --> 0:13:00.320 of my work on a related book called The Rise 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:04.040 Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality. If you want 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:07.439 to explore other parts of Kobe's story, check out The Rise. 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:10.679 It's not just a book version of the podcast. I 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:13.560 dive deeper into some of the topics covered in this series, 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:17.040 and even some that we don't cover at all. Kobe's upbringing, 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:21.320 his family, his identity, his effect on his friends and teammates, 0:13:21.360 --> 0:13:23.880 his journey into the n b A, and his earliest 0:13:23.960 --> 0:13:27.560 days with the Lakers. The Rise Kobe Bryant and the 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:30.960 Pursuit of Immortality is out now. Just head over to 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:34.880 the Rise of Kobe book dot com and you can 0:13:34.920 --> 0:13:38.400 buy it from any of your favorite retailers. That's The 0:13:38.600 --> 0:14:08.800 Rise of Kobe Book dot com. Thanks. A month after 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:12.160 Kobe's death, a memorial service was held for him and 0:14:12.240 --> 0:14:15.760 his daughter Gianna in Los Angeles at Staples Center, the 0:14:15.840 --> 0:14:20.040 Lakers home arena. Jeremy and Greg Downer flew out to 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:23.120 l A to attend the service for both of them. 0:14:23.160 --> 0:14:25.840 There was an odd feeling in being there. They still 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:30.040 couldn't believe Kobe was gone, still couldn't reconcile and come 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:33.760 to terms with his death. They woke up early on 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:36.360 the morning of the service, and the scene around the 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:39.840 arena shocked them back in the sorrow. I think you're 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:42.640 feeling a little bit like the Enturig guys, you know, 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:44.440 driving around l A and then all of a sudden 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:46.720 you get to the Forum and like, I mean, the 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:49.440 Staples Center was like, oh my god. And you see 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:53.080 all these people with Kobe stuff and Kobe flags and 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:57.240 Laker flag and Kobe shirts and a boy, this is 0:14:57.280 --> 0:15:01.240 not gonna be easy. And U I'm glad I was there. 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:03.200 It's all I can say. I was glad I was there. 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:10.320 It was surreal. It was just too hard to believe inside, 0:15:10.840 --> 0:15:14.480 as one speaker after another paid tribute to Kobe and Gianna, 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:21.480 his wife Vanessa, Shaquille O'Neill, Michael Jordan's when Kobe, a 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:25.560 piece of me died. And as I look in this arena, 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:29.640 across the globe, a piece of you die, else you 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:33.560 wouldn't be here. Those are the memories that we have 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:37.200 to live with, and we learn from Greg Downer thought 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:40.720 about the attribute that to him always seemed to define 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:45.440 Kobe best. The quality of the Kobe embodied was that, 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:49.440 either on a basketball court or in life, he could 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:53.880 not would not be stopped. When he wanted something, he 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:57.680 pursued it until he got it Downer believed that Kobe 0:15:57.680 --> 0:16:01.360 could not be defeated, even by death, and he believed 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:04.800 it right up until he heard something during the memorial service. 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:08.080 You know, I heard this round of applause, and you 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:11.000 know it was it was shock in the corner. Somebody 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:14.840 was entering the building, and part of me was like, 0:16:14.960 --> 0:16:17.240 you know, here he is, Like you know, all of 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:22.240 a sudden, he's alive or he um he recovered from 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:27.360 the helicopter crash and Superman is back. But I totally 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:34.560 agree with you that he had an indestructible way about him, 0:16:34.600 --> 0:16:48.320 and I definitely need to feel the same way. As 0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:51.240 the ceremony ended, Jeremy and Greg caught a glimpse of 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:55.040 Kobe's parents, Joe and Pam, sitting near the front, a 0:16:55.160 --> 0:17:10.160 massive people around them. Neither Jeremy nor Greg had seen 0:17:10.320 --> 0:17:13.800 or talked to Joe and Pam since Kobe's death. In fact, 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:16.439 neither of them had seen or talked to them in years, 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:19.840 but they had a chance now and they made their 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:24.960 way towards I'm Pam's like, Joe, it's Jeremy, Joe, it's Jeremy, Joe. 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:28.040 It's Jeremy. We journey saw me like had a thick smile. 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:32.879 I'm like, huh. The hug was thirty seconds long, and 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:36.439 it's like just it goes to show you, like like 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:40.440 he just knows his family, Like yeah, I'm not Seaquille Emeial, 0:17:40.560 --> 0:17:43.800 but like it's just somebody trust for twenty five years, 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:47.239 who had Kobe's best interest at heart. We we knew love. 0:17:47.320 --> 0:17:50.719 Kobe and I hadn't seen in a long time, and 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:53.520 it was especial and he told Greg the same thing. 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:55.359 But he just said, we made a kid for the world. 0:17:56.000 --> 0:17:57.560 And I'm just like I had to. I had to 0:17:57.600 --> 0:17:59.240 wait till I left the building, until her I could 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:02.439 start to cry. I did. Pam was telling both of us, 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:05.080 don't cry, don't cry. I'm leaving, don't cry, and it 0:18:05.200 --> 0:18:09.639 was this very immergtional I didn't amount Joe recently, and 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:13.000 he did right back. He was wishing us all well. 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:19.760 It was very sad. Of course, at the beginning of 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:22.919 this episode, I made an assertion about the things we 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:26.520 do when someone famous dies, the people who knew that 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:29.639 person try to figure out where they fit into his life. 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:33.720 That's all Kobe's friends and mentors from his teenage years 0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:37.560 have been doing since his death. They've been weighing where 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:41.679 they fit in Kobe's life and where Kobe still fits 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:45.000 in theirs when they think of him. What comes to 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:49.399 mind first for Greg Downer, it's Kobe's relationship with Brinn Downer, 0:18:49.720 --> 0:18:53.840 Greg's daughter. They were close. Greg has several photos of 0:18:53.920 --> 0:18:58.840 Kobe holding Brick hugging her. I'm glad that they got 0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:02.399 to me, and uh, you know, I'm glad that Brand 0:19:02.760 --> 0:19:06.520 got to feel greatness. And as Brand has gotten older, 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:09.919 she understands a little bit more as to who Kobe was. 0:19:10.040 --> 0:19:13.320 And sometimes we'll just watch some highlights of him. And 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:17.760 you know, Kobe had four girls. I I only have one. 0:19:18.480 --> 0:19:22.200 What makes this really difficult is the loss of Gianna 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:24.840 and what what she was and what she could have been. 0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:29.720 But I'm so so thankful that that that Brendan Kobe 0:19:29.760 --> 0:19:35.800 got to meet on several occasions. For Mike Egan, Downer's 0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:41.159 assistant coach on Lower Marion State title team, one memory 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:45.080 of Kobe stands out. One day that season, the coaches 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:48.960 arranged for a gentleman named Harry Middleton to attend practice 0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:52.240 and meet the team. Middleton had played for the Aces 0:19:52.680 --> 0:19:57.200 fifty three years earlier. In that was the last eight 0:19:57.280 --> 0:20:03.360 championship team for Longe here r and I just remember 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:07.000 she's Kobe being kind of in awe of the guy. 0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:11.159 This is an older guy now white hair. Um, you 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:13.840 wouldn't pick him out of the lineup as a former 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:17.520 captain of a state championship team. But just the respect 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:22.200 that Kobe showed for him, um, and the admiration he had, 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:25.119 like as a guy who um, you know, Kobe was 0:20:25.119 --> 0:20:27.520 such a student of the game and he realized that, hey, 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:29.919 I might be the man now, but this guy was 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:33.920 the man in this school fifty three years ago. That 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:38.879 was really really cool for Emery Dabney. One anecdote doesn't 0:20:38.880 --> 0:20:43.040 stand out about Kobe. His whole attitude does, just like 0:20:43.720 --> 0:20:47.119 his share will to succeed when you've been close to 0:20:47.160 --> 0:20:49.480 that throughout your life, like you you have no choice 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:54.000 if to be successful, I mean whatever success is. But 0:20:54.440 --> 0:20:57.520 he saw a gold and if you really think about 0:20:57.600 --> 0:21:00.000 him at a young age, he was gonna do everything 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:03.720 he could have to accomplish that goal. Um, And that's 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:05.200 what I really think of when I think of him, 0:21:05.240 --> 0:21:09.600 Just like him having no fear and his relentless pursuits 0:21:09.840 --> 0:21:12.080 of of a goal, That's what I think of, Like 0:21:12.119 --> 0:21:13.760 on every time I think of that's what That's the 0:21:13.800 --> 0:21:27.160 first thing that comes to my mind. Dabney's perspective, I think, 0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:30.040 is a good summary of the macro view of Kobe. 0:21:30.440 --> 0:21:33.199 It wasn't just Dabney who saw him as incredibly driven. 0:21:33.760 --> 0:21:36.800 Everyone who watched him play basketball, or heard him talk 0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:39.960 or read anything about him saw him the same way. 0:21:41.560 --> 0:21:44.879 But for Jeremy Treatment, the memories of Kobe have been 0:21:44.920 --> 0:21:48.679 building up within him for a long time, even before 0:21:48.800 --> 0:21:56.320 the horrible events of January. During that season, when Jeremy 0:21:56.400 --> 0:21:59.240 was along for the ride to the state championship victory 0:21:59.280 --> 0:22:02.800 with Kobe and the Lower Marian Aces, he compiled and 0:22:02.920 --> 0:22:07.240 narrated a highlight video of the team's season. The soundtrack 0:22:07.320 --> 0:22:10.399 he picked for the video was one that every basketball 0:22:10.440 --> 0:22:15.360 fan knows one shining moment, the song that CBS always 0:22:15.440 --> 0:22:18.560 plays after the final game of the n c a 0:22:18.560 --> 0:22:21.560 A men's basketball turning down got Lower Marion prepared for 0:22:21.560 --> 0:22:24.520 the season right away, with a game against superpower Roman 0:22:24.560 --> 0:22:29.040 Catholic at Dreadful University. The videos highlights don't just feature Kobe. 0:22:29.480 --> 0:22:32.359 His teammates are hitting three pointers and dropping in layouts, 0:22:34.200 --> 0:22:36.800 and Greg Downer is barking instructions from the side the 0:22:36.800 --> 0:22:42.080 line and cheerleaders are screaming and shaking their pomp pomps. 0:22:43.800 --> 0:22:46.359 But there's a lot of Kobe in the video, alley 0:22:46.359 --> 0:22:50.760 oops and breakaway dunks and breathtaking plays. The kids at 0:22:50.800 --> 0:22:54.320 Jeremy's camp see them fresh for the first time, but 0:22:54.440 --> 0:22:57.800 Jeremy gets to relive his time with Kobe over and 0:22:57.960 --> 0:23:06.960 over again, and he relished is it. It's funny like 0:23:06.960 --> 0:23:09.040 when I when I played one China Moment every year camp. 0:23:09.119 --> 0:23:13.439 I'm like, this was like special, special thing that happened 0:23:13.440 --> 0:23:16.119 in this one special special time, And you know, you 0:23:16.119 --> 0:23:19.080 could go seven years without anything even close to that happening. 0:23:19.720 --> 0:23:21.440 And that's kind of how I feel about this time, 0:23:21.680 --> 0:23:25.120 like it was. And I look at my bucket list 0:23:25.160 --> 0:23:27.440 and look at things I've done and didn't do or 0:23:27.520 --> 0:23:30.400 with part of or experienced, and this is a one. 0:23:30.560 --> 0:23:44.960 This is a major experience in my life. If you 0:23:45.040 --> 0:23:48.480 spend any time with Jeremy, it becomes obvious how much 0:23:48.520 --> 0:23:52.840 his time with Kobe means to him and still affects him. Yes, 0:23:53.240 --> 0:23:56.040 he was there when Kobe got his start, but Kobe 0:23:56.119 --> 0:24:00.000 was also there when Jeremy got his start. Jeremy had 0:24:00.080 --> 0:24:03.520 had a terrific career and his friendship with Kobe really 0:24:03.600 --> 0:24:07.359 was his launching pad to Jeremy. The two of them 0:24:07.359 --> 0:24:12.200 will always be linked us in incredible. It's like I've 0:24:12.200 --> 0:24:14.840 known somebody pretty well that when they were on their rise, 0:24:15.240 --> 0:24:18.359 to see them all the things they said we're gonna happen, 0:24:18.440 --> 0:24:20.320 to see them actually happen. And how many people can 0:24:20.320 --> 0:24:22.320 live up the hype. How many people are Lebron James 0:24:22.320 --> 0:24:24.240 and Kobe Bryant, and how many people are like that? 0:24:24.440 --> 0:24:29.920 There's very new. It's like you're seeing a percosa spenom 0:24:30.040 --> 0:24:32.640 live up to the up to his own life, looked 0:24:32.720 --> 0:24:34.760 up to his own life. That's even harder than living 0:24:34.800 --> 0:24:37.560 up to the other people's hype. I mean there was 0:24:37.840 --> 0:24:39.399 part of me that felt like you know, I was 0:24:39.400 --> 0:24:41.399 part of that, not a small part, but that was 0:24:41.560 --> 0:24:45.159 it was part of it. And special. I mean we 0:24:45.240 --> 0:24:48.480 all idolized people people who were special. I mean we're 0:24:48.480 --> 0:24:55.480 all special, but very This was incredibly unique person. Yes 0:24:55.760 --> 0:24:59.159 he was, and in the unique story that was Kobe 0:24:59.160 --> 0:25:02.920 Bryant's life, I think Jeremy Treatment holds a pretty special place. 0:25:03.760 --> 0:25:08.040 He made these tapes with Kobe, and more importantly, he 0:25:08.280 --> 0:25:12.000 kept them, He dug them up after all those years, 0:25:12.560 --> 0:25:16.359 and he allowed them to be released into the world. Now, 0:25:16.840 --> 0:25:20.040 the people who knew Kobe so well back then, who 0:25:20.119 --> 0:25:23.680 loved him so much, can know how they fit into 0:25:23.720 --> 0:25:27.360 his life because they and the world can hear through 0:25:27.440 --> 0:25:31.520 Kobe's own voice how they fit and how much they 0:25:31.560 --> 0:25:34.720 meant to him. They can hear Kobe teasing and joking 0:25:34.760 --> 0:25:38.400 around with Jeremy during their interviews together, the easy comfort 0:25:38.480 --> 0:25:50.960 they have with each other. Go hi, everyone, Okay, now 0:25:50.960 --> 0:25:59.520 how do you feel about They can hear him acknowledge 0:25:59.560 --> 0:26:01.920 the impact at that Greg Downer had on his life, 0:26:02.440 --> 0:26:04.520 the care that his high school coach had for him. 0:26:04.800 --> 0:26:07.600 He knew that eventually I would becoming a great play 0:26:07.600 --> 0:26:10.240 in the NBA. He knows that I would not have 0:26:10.400 --> 0:26:14.080 anything left. But right now I have a word upon 0:26:14.200 --> 0:26:19.080 my hand, and oh the NBA, you don't produced? Do 0:26:19.240 --> 0:26:22.119 things been tappulate? And maybe I'll lose it. I'll go 0:26:22.200 --> 0:26:24.800 to college, he knows I don't. They'll have to learn 0:26:24.840 --> 0:26:28.240 abound writing. Comes had a world up my head. That's 0:26:28.240 --> 0:26:31.600 that's what this man's learned always till I told him 0:26:31.640 --> 0:26:35.240