Sports Biblio Digest, 2.2.20: The Unfinished Life of Kobe Bryant
News, Views and Reviews About Sports Books, History and Culture
Also In This Issue: The Sideline Lexicon of Hank Stram; Jerry Izenberg; Dusty Baker; The “Phillies Special” Tragedy; Nick Kyrgios; America’s Missing Football Trophy; Hot Stove Smorgasbord; -30- For Best American Sports Writing; Remembering Chris Doleman, Morgan Wootten and John Andretti
* * * * * * * *
Days after LeBron James became the third-leading scorer in NBA history, the current Lakers’ star led the official team remembrance of the man he surpassed.
Kobe Bryant was 41 years old when he was killed with eight other people, including his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna “Gigi” Bryant, last Sunday in a helicopter crash near Los Angeles.
They were on their way to Bryant’s Mamba Sports Academy, where he coached and oversaw youth basketball programs as part of his varied post-playing endeavors. It was a 90-mile trip from his home in Orange County, and Bryant flew in the helicopter often to avoid long car commutes.
The chopper went down in heavy fog and crashed into a mountainside, and by the time rescue crews reached the scene with some difficulty, it was too late. All nine people on board had died on impact.
The other victims were connected to basketball: parents and two other players on Gigi’s middle-school Mambas team, as well as an assistant coach Bryant had recruited from his daughter’s school.
Another father on board the helicopter, John Altobelli, was a junior-college baseball coach who coached current New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge in the summer Cape Cod League.
The aftermath of the tragedy this week reflected the loss of an iconic figure who transcended basketball, and sports. Bryant won five NBA titles in a 20-year career spent entirely with the Lakers, but meant so much more to a vast Los Angeles community that rarely unites around such a singularly commanding figure.
A Costa Mesa artist whipped up a mural tribute to Bryant and his daughter in 24 hours and Justin Bieber scooped up some in-the-moment Bryant art as well. A generous collection of Bryant murals around Los Angeles that existed before his death figures to grow.
NBA teams took 24-second violations at the start of games in his honor, matching his jersey number for most of his career (along with No. 8).
The statistical numbers he compiled were dazzling enough, but his “Mamba” philosophy set a bar for competitiveness that he passed on to athletes in basketball and other sports. He rivaled perhaps only Michael Jordan in the contemporary NBA in terms of drive, preparation and sheer willpower to succeed.
But that success came at great cost, especially early in his career, as Roland Lazenby, his latest biographer, recalled in an interview this week at the Hoops Hype website.
Bryant was accused of rape in 2003, but prosecutors brought no charges after his accuser declined to testify. He did settle out of court, and acknowledged that the 19-year-old hotel clerk he admitted to having extramarital sex with may not have given consent. A public apology by Bryant followed, a rare thing in the days before the Me-Too movement.
(A reporter for The Washington Post was temporarily suspended after retweeting a link about the charges against Bryant in the hours after his death, causing a firestorm in media circles. Lost amid the clamor was the fact that the reporter said she was sexually assaulted by another journalist who denied the accusation, and who claims his career has been ruined as a result.)
Bryant’s feuds were with teammates and coaches—Shaquille O’Neal and Phil Jackson—his initial agent, Arn Tellem, as well as his parents, including his father, former NBA player Joe “Jelly Bean” Bryant, with whom he never fully reconciled.
But as his legend grew, and his playing legacy was cemented, Bryant began to evolve into a more sympathetic, likeable persona and something of a Renaissance man (The L.A. Public Library this week released selections on Bryant’s bookshelf.).
Less than four years after his retirement, Bryant was relishing this new part of his life with gusto. Gigi, one of his four daughters, aspired to play for the University of Connecticut women’s dynasty, and the two had attended games there, as well as at other college and NBA venues.
When asked by TV talk show host Jimmy Kimmel if he wished he had had a son to carry on his legacy, he quoted Gigi, his heir-apparent: “Dad, I got this.”
The bond between the two was deep and real, and he coined another phrase that was quickly relayed around the web and social media this week: #GirlDad.
That was a proud moniker for Bryant, who greeted the birth of his fourth daughter, Capri, just seven months ago. Other survivors include his wife, Vanessa, and daughters Natalia (17) and Bianka (3).
Among the many Bryant retrospectives written on deadline pressure are splendid pieces by Jackie MacMullan of ESPN and Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times.
Super Bowl Potpourri
One of only two journalists who’s covered all 53 Super Bowl games will miss his first Sunday in Miami when the Kansas City Chiefs play the San Francisco 49ers. Jerry Izenberg, sports columnist emeritus for The Star-Ledger in Newark is 89 years old, and reports that while “I’m old, I’m not dead.” Jerry Green of the Detroit News, 91, is all set to make it 54;
Steve Politi, Izenberg's successor, misses the grumpy presence of Bill Belichick and the Patriots at the Super Bowl. He may be the only one outside of New England to feel that way;
Here’s a coach I do miss: Hank Stram, who led the Chiefs to their first two Super Bowl appearances, including their win over the Vikings in 1970. His perfectly tailored suit and tie and tightly-rolled program belied some amusing language he spouted from the sidelines, as the Associated Press’ Eddie Pells noted while watching an NFL Films replay in an event that featured the first coach to be wired for sound;
Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes, the 2018 NFL Most Valuable Player, will be the 11th Super Bowl starting quarterback to be represented by agent Leigh Steinberg, who’s made a remarkable recovery from alcoholism and bankruptcy and hardly resembles the “Jerry Maguire” persona of his old life;
In 1920, the Akron Pros won what later became recognized as the first National Football League championship, and were presented the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Cup, dubbed “the holy grail of American sports memorabilia” by Bill Pennington of The New York Times. That’s because the trophy, named after a billiards table and sporting goods manufacturing company, hasn’t been seen since, and there isn’t much of an existing paper trail to trace its whereabouts. One player of note for the Pros, who folded in 1926: Fritz Pollard, who later became the NFL’s first black head coach;
Behind the scenes with the Fox crew that will be calling, producing and putting on the Super Bowl.
A Few Good Reads
Three years after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, a group of black investors there (as well as Sammy Davis Jr. and Sidney Poitier) put together a bid for an NFL franchise they would call the Kings, and hire prominent African-American football stars in the front office, including Jim Brown and John Mackey. But that never came to pass, as Rommie Loudd, a former Chargers player and another investor who was the first black majority owner of a pro sports team, ended up doing prison time;
As the Australian Open was going on, Greg Baum of The Age weighed in on the strings-attached wrangling to land a one-on-one interview with Rafael Nadal to include corporate sponsor demands that soured the deal;
Martina Navratilova and John McEnroe were admonished for carrying a banner at the Rod Laver Tennis Center urging the Australian Open to rename Margaret Court Arena after another Australian legend, Evonne Goolagong. Navratilova and McEnroe have been outspoken against Court for her views against same-sex marriage and other social issues;
More from Melbourne and Russell Jackson, writing at The Guardian about rising star Nick Kyrgios and his pledge to aid bushfire fighting efforts that’s heartened his Australian countrymen and women and softened his fiery reputation;
Before a Philadelphia Phillies game at Connie Mack Stadium in 1962, a train carrying fans derailed near Harrisburg, killing 19 people and injuring 105 more. The tragedy of the “Phillies Special,” as the Pennsylvania Railroad Extra liner was called, to this day doesn’t have a memorial, although a survivor warmly recalls an uplifting message from then-Eagles’ great Chuck Bednarik during his recovery.
Hot Stove Smorgasbord
Book Authority has rounded up a collection of baseball player books and memoirs, and it’s what you’d expect for such an eclectic mix—all over the map (in a good way);
A double-dipper: The recent Oscar Charleston biography by Jeremy Beer has won the 2020 Seymour Medal of the American Society for Baseball Research, which will be presented at a SABR banquet in March in Arizona. Beer’s book also has been named the CASEY winner from Spitball magazine as the best baseball book of 2019, and that will be officially awarded at a banquet later in March in Cincinnati;
Shortly before the holidays Joe Posnanski began a project at The Athletic, “The Baseball 100,” his compendium of long essays about his listing of the game’s top players of all time, culminating with Opening Day. Wouldn’t ya know? Friday’s No. 56 happens to be Joe DiMaggio;
The Houston Astros landed Dusty Baker as their new manager in the wake of the sign-stealing scandal that figures to dominate headlines when pitchers and catchers report to spring training at the end of the month. One question abounds about the old-school Baker, now 70: Is he the right fit in the age of analytics?
Sports Book News
After 30 years of publication, the Best American Sports Writing series could come to an end when the 2020 edition is released in October. Glenn Stout, the series editor since its inception, said this week that Mariner Books, the publisher, is ceasing its involvement. He said he has “some ideas on how a similar series may continue, and may explore those options with other publishers.”
The process for the final Mariner edition remains the same: The submission deadline was Saturday, and from there Stout forwards 75 of those stories to the guest editor (this year, it’s ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan), who chooses around 25 stories, and can pick from others not in the original batch.
On a Personal Note
I got some incredibly surprising and gratifying news over the Christmas holidays: I’ve been chosen for induction in the U.S. Basketball Writers Hall of Fame.
The organization represents and advocates for journalists who cover college basketball (there’s a separate group for NBA writers), and I was a member during my sportswriting days, serving as the women’s and new media liaisons.
I'll be the second person in the USBWA Hall of Fame chosen for primarily writing about women’s basketball, joining Mel Greenberg, retired from The Philadelphia Inquirer and the creator of the first women’s college poll in 1977.
I’m even more honored to be going in with a stellar class: Retired USWBA executive director Joe Mitch; Bill Reynolds of the Providence Journal; Mark Whicker of the Orange County Register; and my former Atlanta Journal-Constitution colleague, Jack Wilkinson.
Best of all: This takes place in my hometown of Atlanta, at a luncheon at the Men’s Final Four in April, the day of the national championship game.
Passings
Morgan Wootten, 88, was more than a successful high school basketball coach for more than four decades in the Washington, D.C. area, winning more than 1,200 games. As John Feinstein writes in his remembrance at The Washington Post, Wootten earned the praises of the likes of Dean Smith for always being “a step ahead of us.” Wootten taught history at DeMatha Catholic, and was even a mentor to Red Auerbach, who called him “the best judge of people I ever met.” Wootten was the first high school coach inducted in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame;
Chris Doleman, 58, registered more than 150 sacks in a 15-year career, mostly with the Minnesota Vikings, that earned him induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He fought off an initial bout with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, and had been cancer-free for two years before the disease claimed him;
John Andretti, 56, was the nephew of famed IndyCar driver Mario Andretti, but staked out a successful career of his own behind the wheel, including racing in the Indy 500 and the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 in the same day. John Andretti made public his long battle with colon cancer, and was lauded for raising money and awareness for childhood cancer research.
* * * * * * * *
The Sports Biblio Digest is an e-mail newsletter delivered on Sunday. You can subscribe here and search the archives. This is Digest issue No. 192, published Feb. 2, 2020.
I’d love to hear what you think about the Digest, and Sports Biblio. Send feedback, suggestions, book recommendations, review copies, newsletter items and interview requests to Wendy Parker at sportsbiblio@gmail.com.