Kobe Bryant dead at age 41 in helicopter crash

[phillychuck]

Here's a summary. Kobe, his daughter (13), a friend, and their daughter and a pilot were flying this morning to his daughter's basketball practice in a copter. Apparently there was an onboard fire (or a problem with visibility, now being mentioned Sunday night) and the copter became disabled and crashed. Police report no survivors. I advise avoiding all twitter comments as it is, as usual, a cesspool.

Legendary player and Philly area native.

RIP, prayers for family and friends.

The other passengers were reportedly John Altobelli, a college baseball coach, and his daughter, also a player.

[schillingfan]

R.I.P. He was good for the game and good for Philly. By all accounts a man of good character.

[arpax]

Still having a hard time dealing with this. Make sure you hug your friends and family and tell them that you love them

[phillychuck]

Apparently there were more than 5 people on the copter...even sadder.

[xogfog]

I was sad when Roy Halladay passed, but he died doing something stupid. This is even harder because Kobe died being a great dad.

[Lawman]

My kids and I were talking last night. The tragic death of Kobe Bryant is the single, biggest, death in sports since ___________?

I went with Roberto Clemente. I was contemplating Thurman Munson, Len Bias, and Roy Halladay. But, somehow, this feels bigger. That being said, Clemente's death preceded me, so I can't say how "big" that was.

[tom81]

Clemente’s death was huge, and such a tragedy as he was doing such great humanitarian work when it happened. This is the biggest, most significant, sports death I can remember. The only more significant deaths I remember are non sports related ones.

[bkeich]

To me the most tragic was Reggie White. Although I may not have agreed with everything he said or believed, he had the intent to help others (yes, I know he said a few public things that did not show much inclusion). I would put that in the above list also, but there are so many others that can be added.

Auto Racing also can add a number of people dying young in tragic situations.

I would include Hank Gathers before Len Bias, who tragically died. Bias to me is in a different category as his tragic death was not as innocent.

[Philsmania]

Clemente was still an active player and still at something of a a peak in his career. His last career hit was his 3000th hit. Though at the age of 37, he had the look of someone who could easily keep performing at high level into his 40s.

Kobe, though only 41, was a retired star but still, a cultural icon. For the sizable Millennial Generation this is probably their first gone-to-soon cultural icon. Every generation seems to have one of those moments where, for the first time, it loses a cultural icon too soon. Members of the Silent Generation, the first generation to embrace rock-n-roll, never forget "The Day the Music Died" when Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and J.P. Richardson all died in a plane crash. The Baby Boomers talk about the emotional wallop they felt following the one-after-the other deaths of still-in-their-musical-prime Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, both only 27, in 1970. Generation Xers can all remember where they were in September of 1997 when they heard that Princess Diana perished in a car crash. All of them were intensely mourned by those generations, even people who weren't into rock-n-roll or generally couldn't care less about the British royal family. Likewise, Kobe is being mourned intensely even by those who weren't into basketball.

[Philsmania]

One of the other victims was a college baseball coach and his family, John Altobelli. Among the players he coached in the Cape Cod League were Aaron Judge and the Mets' Jeff McNeil. Was he any relation to Joe Altobelli who managed the Orioles to a WS victory over the Phillies in 1983? There are conflicting claims on the internet that John was Joe's son. Update--Jim Palmer's Twitter feed says John was not Joe's son. No idea of any other possible relation though.

Calif. Baseball Coach, Wife, Daughter Among Those Killed in Crash With Kobe...

[phillychuck]

As a Philadelphia fan, Halladay's death was huge, as was the death of Jerome Brown and the death of Pelle Lindbergh. Brown and Lindbergh were young stars, both still all-star level performers.

[schillingfan]

I was crushed by the death of Steve Prefontane. He was an Oregon hero, my dad was a college track coach and I was an Oregon native.

[phillychuck]

It occurred to me that the premature Philly sports death that impacted me the most was when Harry Kalas died. He meant more to me as a Phils' fan than any single individual player, and I expected him to keep going until he was in his late 80s like Bill Campbell did.

[zambonir]

I can't really think of anyone dying in their 70s as "premature," especially not a lifelong smoker. But it was and I think still is the hardest one to take (though Whitey wasn't far behind. Two guys who lived in our heads, and for years and years, feeling like friends. No player could provide that same experience/duration). I go take a picture with the Harry statue every time I'm at the ballpark.

Otherwise, Pelle Lindbergh by a mile, even if you never saw a Flyers game.

[tom81]

Well I did think of a sports Tragedy that impacted me more than Clemente’s death, the Munich Olympic massacre. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_massacre

For me when someone willfully murders someone that victims death seems more tragic that that caused by some random accident or self inflicted death. Similarly I reminder so much of what I was doing and the people I was with when I heard about John Lennon’s murder. JFK’s assassination was the biggest of all for me.

[el-pietro]

That reminds me of the Munich Air Disaster, where 23 people died including 8 Manchester United playerson the way back from a game against Bayern Munich in the European Cup and more recently the Chapecoense plane crash were 71 people died including 19 players for the Brazillian team were killed on their way to play in the Copa Sudamericana. As it happens that game was never played and the title was awarded to Chapecoense.

Munich air disaster

LaMia Flight 2933

[Philsmania]

He wasn't the talent of Kobe Bryant but Hank Gathers, another very talented Philadelphia basketball product, dropping dead on the court at Loyola-Marymount in 1990 was hard to fathom at the time and was probably even crueler and more unfair. Bryant was denied his chance at his life's second act and to see his children grow up. Gathers was denied his adult life and his professional career (and his and his family's life-altering fortune). And, not to mention, his family was there at the game when it happened. Lawsuits against Loyola-Marymount followed and that basketball program has never recovered.

[Philsmania]

I can't really think of anyone dying in their 70s as "premature," especially not a lifelong smoker. But it was and I think still is the hardest one to take (though Whitey wasn't far behind. Two guys who lived in our heads, and for years and years, feeling like friends. No player could provide that same experience/duration). I go take a picture with the Harry statue every time I'm at the ballpark.

I recall Harry left Spring Training at one point in 2009 to have a stent put in. I have often wondered if he should have taken some time off to rest and recover even if it meant him being out of the booth part of the season instead of getting right back to work.