Kobe Bryant

Born c. 1955, Joe "Jellybean" Bryant excelled in basketball as a high school student in his native Philadelphia. He went on to play college basketball at La Salle University, making First Team honors in the 1974-75 season. In his junior year, Bryant left La Salle to join the NBA, where he played for eight seasons. As a journeyman forward, he averaged 8.7 points per game in 606 career NBA games with the Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Clippers, and Houston Rockets. In 1984, retiring from the NBA, Bryant moved to Rieti, Italy, where he would play professional basketball in the Italian league. He later played in Switzerland and France as well, taking his family with him. Bryant returned to the United States after eight years in Europe, and later took a job as an assistant coach at La Salle. He remains very close to his son, Kobe. "He's always been there for me," Kobe told Dick Weiss of the New York Daily News in 1996. "We can talk about anything. I love him to death."