Former NBA basketball player and father of Kobe Bryant, Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, has reportedly passed away at the age of 69.
A social media post by the La Salle University Men’s Basketball team, where he played his collegiate career from 1973-1975, announced his passing.
We are saddened to announce the passing of La Salle basketball great Joe Bryant.
Joe played for the Explorers from 1973-75 and was a member of our coaching staff from 1993-96. He was a beloved member of the Explorer family and will be dearly missed. pic.twitter.com/A3sgZzVkkt
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Jellybean had recently suffered a massive stroke, according to La Salle’s Men’s Basketball head coach, Fran Dumphy. The elder Bryant played basketball at Bartram High School in Philadelphia before heading to La Salle University. At 6-foot-9 inches, Bryant played the forward position, and while at Bartram, he won the Public League Player of the Year in 1972. When he got to college, playing over two seasons, Bryant averaged more than 20 points and 11 rebounds.
After leaving La Salle, he was selected in the first round of the 1975 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors. Less than four months later, the Warriors sold his rights to his hometown team, the Philadelphia 76ers. Bryant played for the 76ers for four seasons, coming close to an NBA championship as part of the 1976-77 team that lost to the Trail Blazers in the NBA Finals. He also played for the Houston Rockets before continuing his professional career in Europe.
ESPN reported that Bryant also played with the San Diego Clippers (now, the L.A. Clippers) during an eight-year NBA career averaging 8.7 points and 4 rebounds in 606 games. After a successful run in Europe, Bryant and his family moved back to Philadelphia, where a young Kobe was raised.
Bryant started coaching in 1992 and went back to his alma mater La Salle as an assistant coach from 1993 to 1996. He was the head coach for the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks (2005–2007, 2011) before coaching stints in Japan and Thailand.
