NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Kobe Bryant died Sunday morning in a helicopter crash near Los Angeles. He was 41.
Seven other people, including Bryant's 13-year-old daughter Gianna, were aboard the helicopter when it went down in the foggy hills of Calabasas, located in the San Fernando Valley, about 30 miles northwest of downtown L.A.
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The crash occurred several miles from Mamba Sports Academy, Bryant’s basketball training complex in Thousand Oaks, California.
The NBA legend's wife, Vanessa Bryant, was not among those on board, according to TMZ Sports, which broke the story. The couple had three other daughters: Natalia, Bianca and Capri.
There were no survivors, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said it was a Sikorsky S-76 and it was not known what caused the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board was at the scene.
Colin Storm was in his living room in Calabasas when he heard “what sounded like a low-flying airplane or helicopter.”
“Ït was very foggy so we couldn’t see anything,” he said. “But then we heard some sputtering, and then a boom.”
A short time later the fog cleared a bit and Storm could see smoke rising from the hillside in front of his home.
A Southern California community college baseball coach, his wife and daughter were among those killed in the crash.
The younger brother of Orange Coast College coach John Altobelli confirmed the deaths as relatives, friends and players gathered at the school’s baseball field Sunday afternoon. Flowers and baseball caps were placed on home plate.
John Altobelli’s brother, Tony, is the sports information director at the school. He said his 56-year-old brother died along with his wife, Keri, and daughter, Alyssa, who was about 13 and played on the same basketball team as Bryant’s daughter, Gianna.
Bryant played his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers. He entered the NBA directly from high school and won five NBA championships.
Bryant retired in 2016 as the third-leading scorer in NBA history, finishing two decades with the Lakers as a prolific scorer with a sublime all-around game and a relentless competitive ethic. He held that spot in the league scoring ranks until Saturday night, when the Lakers’ LeBron James passed him for third place during a game in Philadelphia, Bryant’s hometown.
“Continuing to move the game forward (at)KingJames,” Bryant wrote in his last tweet. “Much respect my brother.”
Reactions have been pouring in from the sports world and beyond, including from Shaquille O'Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dwayne Wade, Tom Brady and Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama.
Bryant had one of the greatest careers in recent NBA history and became one of the game’s most popular players as the face of the 16-time NBA champion Lakers franchise. He was the league MVP in 2008 and a two-time NBA scoring champion, and he earned 12 selections to the NBA’s All-Defensive teams.
He teamed with Shaquille O’Neal in a combustible partnership to lead the Lakers to NBA titles in 2000, 2001 and 2002. He later teamed with Pau Gasol to win two more titles in 2009 and 2010.
Bryant retired in 2016 after scoring 60 points in his final NBA game.
Bryant looms large over the current generation of NBA players. After James passed Bryant on Saturday, he remembered listening to Bryant when the superstar came to speak at a childhood basketball camp.
“I remember one thing he said: If you want to be great at it, or want to be one of the greats, you’ve got to put the work in,” James said. “There’s no substitution for work.”
James later teamed up with Bryant on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team in Beijing.
“He had zero flaws offensively,” James said. “Zero. You backed off of him, he could shoot the 3. You body him up a little bit, he could go around you. He could shoot from mid-range. He could post. He could make free throws. ... He was just immortal offensively because of his skill set and his work ethic.”