0:06

Diversion podcasts. This

0:12

is all I ever want to uh.

0:14

When I first came to high school, I

0:17

knew I was a pretty good player. I'm just

0:19

gonna work hard trying to accomplish all

0:21

the individuals. But

0:23

I went forward twenty say

0:26

any man, I hate you. There's

0:28

no way how I want to go to this again, and

0:30

then you will benna fool. You're asking

0:32

me and food. Throughout the whole time,

0:34

I could just remember saying that I want to stay changed and

0:36

I want to be knowing at the best I only have the best player

0:39

or the guys guy will playing the best, and

0:42

that meant so much. I just

0:44

wanted to do with everybody that I can carry Temple State

0:46

Championship m

0:49

H. In

1:01

the weeks just before his final season

1:03

of high school basketball began, Kobe

1:05

Bryant would wake up each morning before dawn.

1:08

It would still be dark and chilly outside

1:10

when he'd hop into his SUV and drive

1:12

himself at two and a quarter miles from

1:15

his house to Lower Merion High School.

1:18

He got there before the principal, before

1:20

the teachers, before the other students.

1:23

He'd parked in a prize spot near the

1:25

entrance to one of the school's gymnasiums. A

1:28

janitor would let him into the building and

1:30

for an hour before his first class

1:32

of the day, Kobe would shoot and

1:35

work on his footwork and his handle and

1:37

dunk for an hour. Sometimes

1:41

on his way to school, Kobe would stop and pick

1:43

up Robbie Schwartz, one of his teammates.

1:46

Robbie wasn't one of the Lower Marion Aces star

1:48

players. He was a year younger than Kobe,

1:51

five ft seven, a guy who was just

1:53

happy to be on the roster and along for the ride,

1:56

and he was happy as hell did join Kobe

1:58

for a few of those early more workouts.

2:02

Robbie still lives in the Philly area. He's

2:04

not a short, stumpy kid anymore. He's

2:06

a personal trainer. Really got into Waitland

2:10

and when it comes to this podcast. In my book,

2:12

the best part about Robbie was that he

2:14

remembered a ton of details about

2:17

his time in high school with Kobe, and

2:19

he loved to talk about I

2:21

called him up one day to do just that. Here's

2:24

rob My

2:29

role on the team was a practice player. I

2:31

was I was the last guy on the bench,

2:33

Like I had to fight to get on the team. I had to

2:35

fight to stay on the team, and so I would do

2:38

anything to be a part

2:40

of it. And I

2:42

think in the back of my mind, I always sort

2:45

of knew he was something

2:48

bigger than what was going on just in high

2:50

school, and I always wanted to be around it. I mean,

2:52

I can tell you that honestly because it's the truth.

2:54

You know. It's It's like, dude, it's not a coincidence.

2:57

I'm in all of these pictures that are all

2:59

over the place, Like I think

3:02

in my mind, I was like, I gotta get in this picture.

3:05

I asked Robbie what those early mornings that

3:07

lower marrying with Kobe were like, just

3:09

the two of them playing ball in the gym together.

3:12

And I remember a couple of things about

3:14

those mornings. Number One, I've

3:16

never been so cold. I am not I

3:18

don't do well in the cold as is. It

3:21

was so cold in that gym. The janitor

3:23

opened it up for us. It took five

3:25

minutes for lights to come on, about a half hour

3:27

for the heat to couple O. I was like literally

3:30

freezing, and I remember thinking,

3:32

like, you know, I wonder what we're gonna do.

3:34

Like in my mind, I had all of these thoughts

3:36

of like we're gonna develop this great chemistry

3:39

and like, you know, somehow it would lead to me playing

3:42

more and we're playing at all.

3:44

And I just ended up rebounding for him

3:46

for an hour. And I never

3:49

said anything because I was like, I was like,

3:51

you know, he's my teammate, he's a year older

3:54

than me. But like there was I I look,

3:56

I I was a very small person

3:58

in high school, and I

4:00

was not going to speak out of turn. And

4:03

again, like I just wanted to be a part of whatever

4:05

his journey was. And so

4:08

I was like, Okay, I'll rebound for him for a couple of minutes,

4:10

we'll do some drills that it just

4:12

was like an hour of me or

4:22

after he passed away, like people would

4:25

It was such a weird time where I was getting all these

4:27

phone calls from people I've talked to in a long time.

4:29

They would have done anything to been in my position,

4:32

just to rebud you know what I mean. It's like you don't think

4:34

like I. I didn't think about it like that at the time,

4:37

but now I have such an I have such a high level of appreciation

4:39

for every single second that was spent

4:42

with with him and spent with the

4:44

team like that was just like the best year

4:46

ever, like every moment the bus

4:48

rides, pregame, post game practices,

4:52

just like you you know, I mean being our

4:54

age. I would kill to go back

4:56

and do any one of those activities.

5:05

I don't think there's a single member of that high

5:07

school team who would disagree with Robbie.

5:09

They would all look back at that time of their lives

5:12

and see it with a kind of golden hue,

5:15

and I think Kobe would too. Of

5:20

all the subplots of his early life, there's

5:22

one in particular that when I talked to people

5:25

about Kobe always seem to

5:27

get overlooked or ignored, and it shouldn't

5:29

be. It's not that the other aspects

5:31

of Kobe's adolescens aren't fascinating. As

5:33

I've talked about on episode two, his time

5:36

in Italy shaped him, and those infamous

5:38

pickup games with the Sixers in the summer proved

5:42

to him beyond any doubt that he

5:44

could and should turn pro right

5:46

out of high school. But to me, the

5:49

most dramatic storyline of that period

5:51

doesn't have anything to do with the NBA or

5:54

Jerry Stackhouse or Kobe's

5:56

appreciation for different cultures. Or

5:59

any of those things. It has

6:01

to do with the community in which he grew up, the

6:03

pressure that a young athlete feels to perform,

6:06

and the joy that accompanies the achievement

6:08

of a goal. You've been chasing for years,

6:12

but seems you're superstar. Kobe Bryant aboard

6:14

for the ninety six season. The

6:17

Lower Marine coaching staff knew that there would be no

6:19

team in the area that would attract more attention

6:21

than the asient. The pressure would be

6:23

high from the start, and so would the expectations.

6:26

Alright,

6:27

alright to

6:30

me, the most important Kobe

6:32

Bryant's story of that time is

6:34

the story of the

6:37

season of the Lower Marian

6:39

Aces. I'm

6:47

Mike Sealsky and from Diversion

6:49

Podcasts, this is I

6:51

am Kobe. The

6:56

brat steps to create myself

7:00

said create

7:02

Yoself. They

7:05

nice, create

7:07

Yoself. Got a letter for any

7:09

great minds getting

7:12

time, Episode seven,

7:15

The Mind of a Champion. There

7:27

wasn't a whole lot of drama for most of Kobe's

7:29

senior season at Lower Merion. After

7:31

that crushing loss and Myrtle Beach I told you about

7:34

in the last episode and Greg Downer's

7:36

speech chewing out the entire team.

7:38

The Aces were so inspired and so together

7:41

that they started rolling and seemed like

7:43

they couldn't be stopped. They won

7:45

their final sixteen regular season games,

7:48

and they won them by an average of more than

7:50

twenty points a game. Kobe's

7:53

numbers were just nuts. Here were

7:55

his point totals in one five game stretcht

7:59

thirty two, fifty, thirty

8:02

two and four. Then

8:04

in the second game of the district playoffs, Lower

8:07

Marion faced Academy Park High School.

8:10

Academy Park didn't have the Aces overall

8:12

talent, but it was a tough team.

8:15

It's players weren't going to be intimidated by Kobe,

8:17

but he was ready for them. He talked to

8:19

Jeremy Treatment about that game and

8:21

his preparation with that. Then next

8:24

practice, I was taking a lot

8:26

of jump shots getting ready for the Academy Park game

8:28

because I knew that I'm gonna be a tough

8:30

talent for especially if we didn't come ready to play.

8:33

I came to school early at six o'clock, shooting

8:36

consistently looking on my jump shot,

8:38

trying to find a groove. We

8:40

came up with Academy Pardcam. I just knew I just had

8:42

to take over early. It's in the message

8:45

saying, hey, we're ready to play, and

8:47

if you're gonna be this, you wanted to play a perfect game. I

8:51

only doing it. Didn't expected his seventh three pointers.

8:53

I was in the groove and I just kept

8:55

running for the three point line and I started handing him.

8:58

I remember when I was shooting a round, Oh oh,

9:01

the academy party came in and saying

9:04

there is like by

9:06

saying all this other stuff, and I kind

9:09

of listen to it real way in my memory bank. When I

9:11

came on the court, I was ready to play. Ready

9:14

would be an understatement. He

9:23

hit those seven three pointers and matched

9:26

his career high with fifty points

9:29

lower Merriyan one. The

9:32

aces next game against Norristown

9:34

was a different story. It was a struggle

9:37

for the Aces and for Kobe. Norristown

9:40

was exactly the kind of team that was built to give

9:42

him trouble, lots of tall, quick,

9:45

athletic wing players who could harass

9:47

him, and they did. Kobe

9:49

was whipsawed by two emotions after the

9:51

game, joy and annoyance.

9:55

Joy because lower Merriyan one five,

9:58

which meant the Aces were heading to the Palesti

10:01

for the district semifinals. Kobe

10:03

was so joyful, in fact, that he couldn't

10:05

contain his emotions. But after

10:07

the game in the locker room out crying because the

10:11

road to the Palestia seeing a little cloudy at

10:13

the beginning of the year. I had no clue

10:15

what to expect at the beginning of a year.

10:17

Our chemistry wasn't there, said

10:19

me and Jermaine both was just like, I

10:21

wish we had Evan, I wish we had guys, but

10:25

to see them come through the way they did, just

10:29

like one of the best fingers in the world to know that

10:31

we're going to get back to the Palestia. But

10:34

then there was the annoyance or maybe

10:36

something more than that, because he had

10:38

his worst game of the season. He

10:41

scored only twenty points, he missed

10:43

nineteen of his twenty four shots, and

10:46

he pictured those Norris Town kids strutting

10:48

around full of themselves. Well,

10:51

we may have lost, but at least we played

10:53

awesome defense and the great Kobe Bryant.

10:56

Yeah, he hated that thought, and

10:58

it was kind of aggravating because

11:01

I didn't want Northtown to think that they

11:03

held me because they've been it

11:05

was me and I was just missing. I

11:08

then want them to say that, yeah, we shut

11:10

down clude Ryan. When the state tournament

11:12

started, I wanted them to win and keep winning so we could

11:14

play him again. I can get him fifty sixty or

11:16

something like that, just to show him, hey, you didn't

11:19

do what I did. Yes,

11:21

it had to be that Kobe had a bad game,

11:23

not that the Norristown players were capable

11:26

of guarding him well enough to shut him down. In

11:28

his mind, with his ego, there

11:31

were no high school players who were capable

11:33

of shutting him down. It was like he couldn't

11:35

conceive of such a thing. It

11:38

also sounded like Kobe was looking ahead a

11:40

little bit there, anticipating a rematch

11:42

in the state tournament with Norristown before

11:45

he and the Aces had actually finished the district

11:47

tournament. So much for the cliche

11:50

take him one game at a time, but

11:52

actually there was no way Kobe

11:54

was going to look past either of the teams

11:56

that Lower Marion ended up playing in the

11:59

district final four. These were the sorts

12:01

of games that Kobe always loved, whether

12:03

he was playing for the Lower Marion Aces

12:06

or the Los Angeles Lakers in the

12:08

NBA. They were the games against the

12:10

league's best teams and best players

12:13

Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs,

12:15

Alan Iverson and the Sixers, Kevin

12:18

Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray

12:20

Allen and the Celtics, and the

12:22

district semifinal game against Coatesville

12:25

marked Kobe's third game against

12:27

one of his earliest NBA rivals,

12:32

Hambleton Final semence handed his

12:34

face two

12:38

quarters. Just shut

12:40

it up. There they get it to Hamilton's.

12:42

He get it to clean looking Cary. If

12:46

it weren't for Kobe Richard Rip,

12:48

Hamilton's would have been considered the best player

12:51

in the Philadelphia area in He

12:54

was thin as a blade, quick as hell, able

12:57

to shoot off the dribble or get to the basket

12:59

against any He

13:01

was heading off to play for Hall of Fame coach

13:03

Jim Calhoun at the University of Connecticut,

13:06

where he lead the Huskies to victory in

13:08

the National Championship

13:10

game. Here's a clip of him hitting a buzzer

13:13

beater during that n c A tournament. Brother

13:16

was going prell mead ten

13:19

seconds remaining.

13:32

Yeah. During

13:38

his junior season, Kobe had played against Rip

13:41

and Coatesville twice and had beaten

13:43

them twice, once on a buzzer beater

13:45

in a great game at Coatesville won

13:47

in the district semis. Now was the

13:50

rematch, and Kobe knew the game

13:52

would define their rival. I

13:54

was excited because it was a personal, personal

13:57

dual type thing we're to have with People

14:00

would say how he can

14:02

compete with me and he can give me

14:04

some word. When people say that, I just

14:06

kind of laugh and smile, but

14:09

think, in the back of my mind, now I can kill it this guy.

14:11

If you had a big game, that he would possibly

14:13

lose. But I also knew that I could

14:16

have a big game. Eight

14:29

years later, in two thousand four, Rip

14:31

would finally get the better of Kobe when his

14:33

Detroit Pistons wiped out the Lakers

14:35

in five games in the NBA Finals.

14:38

Rip even out played Kobe for most of that

14:40

series, but not this night,

14:42

back, not at

14:44

the palestri Kobe scored

14:46

twenty nine points and let a fourth quarter

14:49

come back, and the Aces won seventy

14:51

sixty five. The two of them

14:53

talked after the game, and the vibe

14:55

you get from Kobe is obvious. He

14:58

likes Rip, He's friends with Rip. He

15:01

wishes the best for Rick, but

15:03

he also wants to kick rips

15:04

it to say that

15:07

one of us always have to lose, like,

15:09

yeah, I go yeah, and

15:11

uh he said, Uh, how come any

15:13

time I played always he would love. I

15:15

kind of laughed, Well, I have

15:18

no clue. I

15:20

guess I'm more competitive. I guess I don't. I

15:22

don't know. I just do whatever it takes

15:24

to win. Personally,

15:27

Yeah, that kind of wished he was another

15:29

bracket so he could he

15:31

could play and I get to the Bische Championship.

15:34

I know that's what he wanted the most, but

15:37

A should have been another bracket. I mean, we're in

15:39

another bracket. We're gonna be in the championship anyway.

15:41

Somebody has to take it, and it might as well be me.

15:44

The winnever coachs Fill and Rip Hamilton's set up

15:46

another rematch for the Aces, this

15:49

time for the district championship, and

15:51

one more time against their nemesis, the

15:53

Chester Clippers. The defending

15:55

Chaps, the team that had destroyed

15:58

Lower Merian by twenty seven point to

16:00

the year before. That loss

16:02

remained a bitter memory and had become

16:04

a motivating factor for Kobe

16:06

and the entire Lower Marian program.

16:09

For Kobe, for all of Lower Marian's

16:11

coaches and players, for anyone who

16:13

paid attention to high school basketball, Beating

16:16

Chester would mean that the Aces matter,

16:19

that they had earned their championship by

16:22

knocking off the district juggernaut. Greg

16:24

Downer even had warm up shirts made

16:26

up with the number twenty seven on them

16:28

to remind everyone on the team

16:30

that they had lost by twenty seven points

16:33

the last time they played Chester. This

16:35

time, though, Kobe's teammates entered

16:37

the game with just as much confidence

16:39

as he had. Here's Emery Dabney,

16:42

who is the Aces starting point guard. So

16:45

we haven't building up this big rivalry for years.

16:48

And it's funny because it lasted his day

16:50

with Chester. So they

16:52

were kind of like, you know, Chester kids,

16:55

kind of intimidating, and

16:57

um, it was kind of like, uh, we're

16:59

sick. We don't care who they where they're from. We don't

17:01

care. And at that time when I

17:04

got in there, they were just sticking up when we didn't

17:06

care how where they were from. We didn't care the

17:08

Chester talk. Whatever that meant. That meant nothing

17:10

to us, It made a lot to everyone else.

17:13

Then, Kobe

17:19

spent the days before the game reading through the

17:21

local newspapers searching for motivation,

17:24

and he found some In a quote from

17:26

Chester's head coach Fred Pickett,

17:30

I knew that everybody was pumping it up at the end.

17:32

The daily was it the daily news at

17:34

Kobe where his goods that I

17:36

was fighting? I mean, but there was a

17:38

total inspect to my team because

17:41

they didn't even mentioned them, And I can't.

17:43

I can't take that to heart. I know my teammates did.

17:46

But the whole week was great. A lot of people

17:48

come up to me saying, do you think you're ready for Chester?

17:51

You think you guys can be dumb? I think they're better than

17:53

you want. A lot of trash on them been going on, especially

17:56

from them, from them in the paper. But

17:58

I really didn't expect that was would come out and say what he

18:00

said. I mean, he actually when

18:03

people say what you gonna do about Kobe Bryant will say,

18:05

well, I won't try to contain him, and you know, things

18:08

like that. But hey, but the

18:10

picket just came out and said we're gonna shut him down.

18:12

Period. When did you see that, David? I

18:15

said, uh, I saw the day came

18:17

out. I'm not swing that when it came

18:19

out, but I think it was a couple of days before the game.

18:22

I just kind of looked at it. I was like, a shot, Why

18:26

would you give me something like that too? It's a look forward to,

18:28

you know. For the first half of the game,

18:30

it looked like Pickett was right. The Clippers

18:32

led by eight points at the bridge, just like

18:34

they had the year before when they blew Lower

18:36

Marian out of the building. But Greg

18:38

Downer made a couple of coaching adjustments at

18:41

halftime and Kobe got going offensively.

18:43

He sparked a fourteen to one run that

18:46

put the Aces in front, and even

18:48

as a youngster, the Mamba wasn't

18:50

above taunting his opponents in a big game.

18:53

But the one guy, I think he's

18:55

twenty one, I think some las kid.

18:57

He came in the game and he I think his coach put

18:59

on put him on me, just to provoke me or something.

19:02

As soon a detecting the game, ran right to

19:04

me and started talking to all this trash. Yeah,

19:07

col Yeah, you're a pomp, You're a punk. I will

19:09

shut you down saying all this stuff. I'm

19:11

just looking at my just smile said, man, I'm

19:14

a hundred and temper unguardable. That

19:18

was so funny because he just looked at me like yeah

19:20

right, you ain't, you ain't shoot and all this

19:22

other stuff before Yeah,

19:26

I started killing him. Man. I drew like

19:28

three pounds on him and uh like the

19:30

next second you just heard he was going

19:32

out of the game. Hey, come back and the rest of the

19:34

game. That was funny. Lower

19:37

Marian won the game and the district championship

19:40

comfortable with three

19:42

and Kobe stat line was just insane

19:45

thirty four points, eleven rebounds,

19:48

six assists, and nine block

19:50

shots. It was great because

19:53

nobody expected us to win. Were

19:56

the underdogs. I

19:58

wasn't gonna get a championship, and

20:01

the championship with just vote

20:04

really really good. Who anybody

20:06

going the way? That's

20:08

one of the best films ever. Somebody says you can't

20:10

do something, didn't do it. I'm not sure it's right

20:13

to say that no one expected lower Marian

20:15

to win. I mean, the Aces were

20:17

seated third in the district and they had

20:19

the best player in the freaking country. But

20:22

there was a caveat to that championship,

20:24

a reason for Kobe and the Aces to be a little

20:27

reserved in how much they celebrated

20:29

it. Lower Marian still

20:31

had the state tournament to play. It

20:33

wasn't enough for Kobe and his teammates just

20:36

to win a district championship. Remember

20:38

what he said in the tape I played at the beginning

20:40

of this episode. Throughout the whole time,

20:42

I could umer stand now on the state champie,

20:44

and I want to be known that the best I only had the best player

20:48

the best

20:52

I want to be known as the best player

20:55

on the best team. He and

20:57

the rest of the Aces wanted a state title. Two.

21:00

They needed a state title, and

21:02

it was still possible, maybe even

21:04

likely, that they would have to play Chester

21:06

again and have to beat Chester

21:08

again to win that state title. And

21:11

if they couldn't do that, if they lost

21:14

their final game that season, if

21:16

Kobe lost the final game of his high

21:18

school career, he would consider

21:20

himself a failure. Hey,

21:36

this is Mike Selsky, host and writer of

21:38

I Am Kobe. This podcast

21:40

project came out of my work on a related book

21:43

called The Rise Kobe Bryant

21:45

and the Pursuit of Immortality. If

21:48

you want to explore other parts of Kobe's story,

21:50

check out The Rise. It's not just

21:52

a book version of the podcast. I

21:55

dive deeper into some of the topics covered

21:57

in this series, and even some that we don't

21:59

cover at all. Kobe's upbringing, his

22:01

family, his identity, his effect

22:04

on his friends and teammates, his journey

22:06

into the n b A, and his earliest days

22:08

with the Lakers. The Rise

22:10

Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality

22:13

is out now. Just head over to the

22:16

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22:18

and you can buy it from any of your favorite

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retailers. That's the Rise

22:23

of Kobe Book dot Com.

22:25

Thanks so

22:49

now. The Aces are in the state tournament. They

22:51

coasted through their first three games, which

22:54

were so one sided that they were worth In

22:56

fact, the most interesting thing about them was

22:58

the hoop blow that surrounded Kobe. People

23:01

around the country knew who he was. They'd

23:04

heard about it, read about it, and

23:06

wanted to see him. They packed every

23:08

gym he was in. Here's a good

23:10

example of how crazy he's got. In

23:12

the second round, Lower Marian played Scranton

23:15

High School. Scranton was happy just

23:17

to be in the second round of the tournament. They'd

23:19

beat in the higher seeded team in the first round,

23:22

but even they didn't expect themselves to hang with

23:24

the likes of Lower Marian or Chester. During

23:26

one of his interviews with Jeremy Treaty. Kobe

23:29

talked about how he approached such an a poem

23:31

right down the bus. I kind of thought that this team might

23:33

be easily in tim and simply because they came over

23:35

a big upset and I knew that they were

23:37

gonna be very excited about that and come

23:40

in visiting team like us. I

23:42

knew that they could be in SIMD. Plus

23:44

they're very young, and when I loved

23:46

at Exam and it's around their way

23:49

amy a nice little partible and

23:52

I had to start playing talking about how

23:54

he dreamed about the day that he could call

23:57

me and come out and play against me and things

23:59

like that, and they said, just a dream come

24:01

true. And he said, well, I really looked up to him.

24:03

I know I can't spout a little thing like that. And

24:05

I said, oh my god, I got you. I

24:08

said, I said, man like a shot.

24:10

When he smells blood the war, he's gonna he's

24:12

gonna laughing. We're gonna attack it. I

24:14

knew that he was looked up

24:16

to me like that. I knew he was open. I

24:19

just went a half so that of my whole time

24:21

team because they knew and they won't that's

24:24

an understanding the Aces scored

24:26

the first twenty two points of the game. Kobe

24:29

threw down a few dunks and blocked a few shots.

24:31

It was complete domination. The

24:33

final score was seventy nine thirty

24:36

nine. But that wasn't the strange part.

24:38

This was the strange part. After

24:41

the game, every single Scranton

24:43

player lined up on the court and

24:46

asked Kobe for his autograph. It's

24:48

pretty cool so that the course he's compete

24:51

all you were up the court. His life

24:53

at the basketball, you know. But it

24:55

was good. I kind of weird at first. My

24:57

god, he just blowing you out out. I'm

24:59

saying nothing to be upset at

25:02

this smile. And it's not exactly, but Julia,

25:06

does that sound like a high school basketball player

25:08

to you? To me, it sounds like a polished

25:11

performer who's already accustomed

25:13

to dealing with the public, an actor,

25:15

a talk show host, a professional athlete.

25:18

It sounds like Kobe at seven or

25:20

thirty seven. It doesn't sound like a

25:22

seventeen year old kid, which is what

25:25

Kobe was. Just

25:27

like they expected. Kobe and his teammates

25:29

got their rematch with Chester in the

25:31

state semifinals at the Palestra

25:35

the day before that game. They were having a lousy,

25:37

sluggish practice. Greg Downer was

25:40

ticked, so was Kobe. He

25:42

figured if anybody could light a fire under the team.

25:44

But he's just kind of going through the motions,

25:47

right shots, not conscience

25:50

rating, not running these greens

25:52

hard, and not satting a man. You

25:55

can tell you that course down it was getting little agivated,

25:57

and I was getting agivated too. I

25:59

tried to this team, um, getting this team going, I'm

26:02

start getting going out of me a while, and

26:04

uh, we're going to drill. I've

26:07

been the bar up against Leo. The Leo

26:09

Kobe was referring to. There was Leo Stacey,

26:12

one of the shortest kids on the team, one

26:14

of the last kids on the bench. I try

26:17

to pull back and cross over, and he reached them and

26:20

his head came in with his head and buttons

26:23

here, bumping right on my nose. And

26:25

uh, at first I thought it was in the groove. Now

26:27

you get bumping your nose and to y'all, I started ordering,

26:31

Oh well, I thought, my nose, get up, start playing some

26:33

more. I bought

26:35

my nose. I go to my end up

26:37

just blast, I'm coming out. I'm like, oh my god, he going

26:40

on and had I never broke my nose before.

26:42

Are the blood he started gusting. I just

26:45

laid on the floor and I just changed to myself. God,

26:47

man, I hope I can play this game. Let's

27:09

take a moment and understand what happened

27:12

here. The day before the

27:14

biggest game of his team season, the

27:16

biggest game of his life to this point,

27:19

Kobe Bryant collided with a teammate

27:22

and broke his notes. Consider

27:24

the panic that must have run through every

27:27

coach and every player on the team,

27:30

And consider the pressure that those coaches

27:32

and players already felt before

27:35

Kobe got hurt. Greg Down

27:37

or the team's head coach, was definitely feeling.

27:40

You know, I don't know what people's exterior

27:43

expectations were, but you

27:46

know, I knew that we wanted

27:48

to go out with the gold medal, and

27:50

you know, I knew that's what the kids wanted, that's what

27:53

Kobe wanted. Um. And

27:55

there's two pressures there. There's

27:57

a pressure of trying to figure out, which

28:00

I spent my whole career doing, how to get through

28:02

very difficult Chester teams, and

28:05

um, you know, the pressure

28:08

of kind of leading

28:10

Kobe Bryant. So it was

28:12

kind of like a mix of those two

28:14

pressures. And I

28:17

mean, I think I think I handled it okay.

28:19

And you know, in retrospect, I'm

28:22

probably glad there wasn't the

28:25

craziness of the internet and social

28:27

media that would have

28:29

just put another magnifying

28:33

layer on this, probably similar

28:36

to the to the career

28:38

that that you saw Lemron James have. That

28:43

practice was the only one that Mike Egan

28:45

missed over the two years that he coached Kobe

28:48

at Lower Merian. He was in Dallas on

28:50

a business trip. He called down

28:52

Her for an update, and Downer told him

28:54

about Kobe's injury ago. It was supposed to be a

28:57

fairly light, easy

29:00

on our workout, almost a you

29:02

know, a step a bubble walk through to get ready for Chester.

29:05

And he told me they Leo

29:08

Stacy broke Kobe's nose. And

29:10

I I just said what?

29:14

Three times? I think I said what. Leo

29:16

Stacy was the smallest guy on the team

29:18

to broke his nose. They want to hear it broke his nose. I feel like

29:20

they got in a fight or something. But

29:33

if Egan thought Kobe's injury might ruin

29:35

the Aces season, he also missed

29:37

the sign that should have told everyone

29:40

in the lower Marian program that they had

29:42

nothing to worry about. Kobe

29:44

was still standing at mid court, and the trainer

29:47

told him that he had to leave practice to get checked

29:49

out. Jeremy Treaton was standing

29:51

there next to Kobe, and what happened

29:53

next is a story that still gets told

29:55

among Kobe's coaches and teammates.

29:58

It's almost like a myth, except it's

30:00

true. Kobe was

30:03

holding a towel to his face with his right hand.

30:05

He said, ball. Someone

30:08

bounced past a basketball team. He

30:11

caught it and held it with his left hand.

30:13

Then he turned to treat

30:16

I remember I got up. I say

30:18

that I bet you I can leave this shot. I

30:21

left hand. Truth,

30:25

I had a town, a town. My right hand. I

30:27

hold no blood coming

30:29

down on my nose, I told her,

30:31

Jeremy John, I bet you fought out shot.

30:34

My left hand shot

30:36

it one handed, left

30:38

handed from half court with

30:41

a broken nose. Kobe

30:43

swished the shot was still. I

30:47

never doubted, you said, I

30:50

never clacked your own. It's cool. It's cool.

30:52

It's cool. I knew it was. But

30:56

I want to get out there back some more. Uh

30:59

ohays my cups. I haven't father,

31:02

I want to get out there and working my game a little

31:04

bit, but I don't want to let me coach. You want

31:06

to let me. I was kind of

31:08

set the whole night. I could work in

31:10

my game, but I

31:13

didn't get a mad Man's

31:17

kids, right, Bob, nothing raise

31:20

about a hundred and nothing parents.

31:24

Uh. But he has tremendous heart, but he's just like

31:26

the little skit on the team. And him to

31:28

break my nose, it's not so funny when

31:31

people see me in school. Oh cool rapp who woke

31:33

nose? I see Leo got laughing

31:36

by right. The

31:38

shot was amazing, but it didn't change

31:40

the fact that Kobe's nose was still broken.

31:43

The thinking was that he would have to wear a mask

31:46

during the game against Chester to protect his

31:48

face, but

31:53

Mike Egan told me that presented its own set

31:55

of potential problems. By wearing a mask,

31:58

Kobe would be telegraphing he was hurt and

32:01

he wasn't a UM.

32:03

And then we talked about, you know how dangerous

32:05

that could be against um. You

32:07

know, a team like like Chester because

32:10

they smell blood in the water that you know they were

32:12

coming after you. Not that they would be dirty about it, but

32:14

it's just, you know, psychologically,

32:17

it would make us look weak. So Kobe had

32:19

a solution to that conundrum. In

32:21

the locker room before the game. He took

32:23

off the mask and chucked it against the wall.

32:26

He would play without. I think

32:28

he didn't want to give up any edge. He

32:31

was such an advanced kid psychologically,

32:34

but you didn't wear it. They never know about

32:41

Chester. The

32:45

polesto was passed. Nearly nine

32:48

thousand people were to see the best

32:50

high school basketball player in Pennsylvania against

32:53

what most people believe was the best high

32:55

school basketball program in Pennsylvania,

32:58

and the game lived up to its billing as

33:01

the most anticipated of the year, type

33:03

most of the way. Chester up by

33:05

two at halftime, lower Marian

33:07

taking a late leave, Chester coming

33:10

back to tie it at the end of regulation, Back

33:12

and forth, back and forth. It

33:15

was as good as basketball gets at

33:17

any level. The game went to

33:19

overtime and Kobe

33:21

went to another level. He finished

33:23

with thirty nine points, scoring twenty

33:26

of them in the fourth quarter and the extra

33:28

five minutes of play. With lower

33:30

Marian up by seven. In the closing seconds,

33:33

he dribbled from one end of the court to the other,

33:36

through all five Chester players and

33:38

hammered down a tomahawk dunk as

33:41

he was found. Greg Downer called

33:43

it the defining moment of Kobe's high

33:45

school career and in the entire

33:47

history of Lower Marian's program. Robbie

33:50

Schwartz watched it from the bench and

33:53

marveled at his friend and teammate. When

33:55

he went coast to coast and Dunctin got fouled.

33:58

It was like in a rumption. I mean, like the

34:01

sound, like those sounds, I can I

34:03

can close my eyes and I can heal

34:06

the the energy in the Palestia. Twenty

34:13

five years and Robbie still

34:15

hangs onto that memory. He can

34:17

still see it crystal clear in his mind. That

34:20

was the effect that Kobe had on his teammates.

34:40

Kobe and the ace Is now viewed a state championship

34:43

as their destiny. They thought they

34:45

were unstoppable, and they said so. The

34:57

game would be held in Hershey, the same

34:59

small city, the same arena, even

35:01

where Wilt Chamberlain had once cemented his

35:03

basketball legend by scoring one

35:06

points in a game for the Philadelphia Warriors.

35:09

Kobe stood up at a pep rally and all

35:11

but guaranteed that the Aces would

35:13

come home with a Trophy. The

35:16

task wasn't going to be quite that simple, though.

35:19

Lower Marian had to play Erie Cathedral

35:21

Prep from the northwest side of Pennsylvania.

35:24

Erie Prepp was a strong, sound team

35:26

with a good tradition, and it was unlike

35:29

any team Kobe and the Aces had faced

35:31

that season. Here's Mike Egan, he

35:34

played Erie Cathedral UM. That was

35:36

the first team we played that

35:38

had like an old school

35:41

type of basketball

35:44

program where they played

35:46

great defense, they moved

35:48

the ball on offense, they didn't do

35:51

what we wanted them to do offensively.

35:54

Big part of our system at

35:56

Law Marian was trying to speed

35:58

up. We had an athletic team with with

36:00

a great shop blocker and Kobe you

36:03

know under the basket. We wanted to speed teams up,

36:05

force him to a side, make them do something

36:07

more quickly than they wanted to. And

36:10

they were the first team that didn't

36:13

do what we wanted them to do, which is a really well

36:15

coached, good team. And I think UM

36:17

just that slowness kind

36:19

of the game, not UM.

36:22

It's like a boxing match where one guy wants

36:25

to dictate the pace and the other boxer won't

36:27

let them. They wouldn't let us dictate the

36:29

pace and we weren't used to that. Cathedral

36:31

Prep meets Laura Marian in the State Quad

36:33

A Final. The Ramblers are making their

36:35

third appearance in Hershey in the past four years.

36:38

Laura Marian beach her six six senior Kobe

36:40

Bryant, considered by many to be in the nation's

36:42

top high school player. It's eat

36:45

versus wet. One team will leave

36:47

Chocolate Collin with the title. And you'll see

36:49

here he Prepp got out to a seven nothing lead

36:51

in the game, and Kobe and the Aces had

36:53

a bigger problem than the game's pace. The

36:56

basketball was incredibly slipper

36:58

over code. He had trouble gripping it,

37:01

dribbling it, shooting it. He didn't

37:03

score a single point in the first The

37:07

bow is so so slimply, man,

37:10

I mean it really was. Be thick at

37:12

the bulls is a little bit slippery. Uh plays

37:15

to deal with it. Lay start

37:18

that we played live when

37:21

we did myself, Oh, we

37:24

had a little bow like going between our legs, coming

37:26

around our back and doing little things like got crossing

37:28

over, pulling up in the dome. It

37:31

was like a hard pool, that little slippery ball like that. Guys

37:35

poundball, counterball pass pound

37:37

pound pass able. They sucking

37:40

point shots, the scoop the bus don't

37:42

want to be a factor for us, and slipping

37:45

everywhere now very very

37:47

pissed off, very good which

37:50

was a very bigger game. And I totally referee. He

37:52

do stick, he said, I wipe

37:54

it off the tip resolute

37:57

phillis slip tell us stick. I can't

37:59

do it. So

38:04

Kobe got creative. Lower

38:07

Marian's trainer had a can of adhesive

38:09

spray that she would apply to a player's

38:12

ankle before taping him up. Kobe

38:16

took the can and sprayed the stuff

38:18

on his hands. He was like Spiderman.

38:21

Now he could catch the ball without even closing

38:23

his hands. First

38:26

time he touched the ball in the second quarter, Bang,

38:29

he had a turnaround jumper on the baseline. Check

38:32

Out this clip from W I T F in

38:34

Harris Ball. Emory

38:36

Dappy has the basketball dapple halt

38:39

that's black springs from the baseline

38:43

by girl family and

38:45

filling it right over top of you and look it

38:47

in your face. Bryant practices, as

38:49

we said, with the Sixers, and they said when he

38:51

practiced the Sixers, there wasn't a noticeable difference

38:53

the way he played compared to the pro still

38:56

lower Marin trailed Eerie Prep by six.

38:59

At halftime. The Aces confidence was

39:01

shaking a bit, so Greg Downer pulled

39:03

out all the stops to try to inspire

39:05

his players. Let's listen to Kobe describe

39:08

what happened in the locker a

39:10

half time. Anybody's day down because

39:13

the style, the start that they were playing with very

39:15

questions because we're pressure and

39:17

we're up in the time doing everything right,

39:20

but the pressure wasn't getting to you. And

39:23

I remember, man, they're gonna crack.

39:25

There's no way ahead. Everything understand our question

39:28

for the whole time. Game he's got

39:30

and I knew that the main new list of

39:32

the players understood that the coach

39:34

got it. Came to the locker room game, Uh,

39:38

took off his shoes and put the sleepers. I

39:41

said, we're going to war. I did, you got

39:43

better be ready? I said, I when

39:45

the big game, I was run

39:47

out on the court and I'm gonna jump around there like a man

39:50

man with my das And he did, and he

39:52

did, and that he did. But that kind of

39:54

kind of sad that the message, so hey, man,

39:56

are we in a championship games. How could

39:58

we play like this? I gotta stepping up another

40:01

back. We knew that every

40:05

big game you stepping up in the quarter. It

40:11

came out that the requarter right,

40:15

and that was all right. So I

40:18

knew that you got a full point. We're

40:21

not going to turn back the time. It

40:24

wasn't really all, she wrote. Erie

40:26

Prepp actually came back to take a two point

40:29

lead in the fourth quarter and Kobe

40:31

had to sink too late foul shots to tie

40:33

the game. If he missed

40:35

one or both, Lower Marion would

40:37

probably have lost the game. Here's

40:40

another clip from w I t F of

40:42

him taking and making those shots.

40:46

Well be Bryant six foot six senior

40:50

right out of the one ball team took bought us

40:52

the rest of the way. The shot around and

40:54

drops him up about a

40:57

shooter's wall. You get that facts been on

40:59

good action as you look at the other side,

41:01

the best break downer. He has

41:03

a note of concern at this point, but believes

41:06

brothers sitting to his level. There the growth the hydration

41:08

earlier, and he is bad back from the hospital, did

41:11

say Bryan Swish at

41:14

forty womagap. In the end,

41:16

Kobe helped quench the victory for the Aces.

41:19

But what was ironic was he didn't do it

41:21

by score. Instead, he grabbed

41:23

an important defensive rebound and through

41:25

a long pass up court to his teammate

41:28

Omar Hatcher for a layer. Lex

41:30

Drives at thirty seconds left left the chart

41:32

rebound battle for still on

41:35

the deck, backing away by comby Bryant

41:37

right out of the open floor. It off

41:39

all my all, that

41:43

made Felix profession game. But here comes

41:45

Beast seconds to go. He

41:47

carried it over. That was it. They

41:49

had done it. It had been a tough

41:52

game, an ugly game, a low scoring

41:54

game, Lower Marrying forty ere

41:56

hee Prept. Three, but

41:59

it was a win. Just the scene there. Twenty

42:01

six in a row, Kobe Bryant

42:03

and the Lower Marian Aces were state

42:06

champions. Here's a clip

42:08

of the game's immediate aftermath from

42:10

w I t A what a tremendous game at

42:13

Urshey Park and ran up the Lower Marian bands

42:15

of already under the banner that says Lower

42:17

Marian eight six state

42:19

champs and that ends a fifty

42:22

three year grout for Lower Marion.

42:24

Their last state basketball title game

42:26

in nineteen forty three. But the grout is

42:28

over as Kobe Bryant and the Lower Marion

42:31

Aces defeat every cathedral breath forty

42:33

eight, forty three when the FADA state

42:35

title, Jenn Garrett just saw Great Blind

42:37

and Mama Father Jelly being Joel Bryant

42:40

son Koby embracing on the

42:42

side pleasant

42:47

the game was over. I couldn't believe it. I turned

42:49

around, running up

42:54

in the air and number one over the age crazy.

42:56

I'm like, oh my god. When the State I

42:59

remember going around my

43:03

dad came out of nowhere. I was up but

43:05

they had only ride there. I couldn't get up

43:07

there my family. I

43:09

turned around this thing. I know my dad was down there. I was

43:11

like, oh man, I gave m a night lub

43:14

and was like, man, I probably didn't.

43:17

He knew that I wanted to do. Mike

43:21

Egan watched Kobe and Joe share

43:23

that hug, and he told me it seemed

43:26

to last a full minute with it, that it seemed

43:28

like they'd never let each other go where

43:31

um where they had such an incredible

43:33

bond and they've been through so much together.

43:36

The other time they spent Italy. The whole journey

43:38

here helping Kobe get to this level

43:41

and to win a state championship, which is the you

43:43

know, the ultimate for a high school basketball

43:46

player. Um, it was just a great, great

43:48

moment there. I remember Kobe

43:50

giving me a hug and embracing

43:53

me and saying, you know, he's kept

43:55

saying thank you. He was such an amazing

43:57

guy in the sense that he he allies

44:00

like you can get individual

44:02

greatness on your own,

44:05

but it's not nearly as fun or

44:07

rewarding, and it's impossible to get team greatness

44:09

without contributions from a lot of different people.

44:12

So his graciousness and his

44:14

thankfulness to me and I'm sure all the

44:16

other teammates and coaches was really

44:19

something something cool from him. Kobe

44:39

Bryant's four years at Lower Merion High School

44:41

marked the start of a new era for the school's

44:43

basketball program. The sport

44:45

had been an afterthought at the school before

44:48

he got there. It has been a point of pride

44:50

ever since. In

44:54

the twenty years since Kobe left, the Aces

44:57

had just two losing seasons, and

44:59

they've won two more state championships.

45:02

Greg Danner likes to say that Kobe taught them

45:04

all how to win, that he established

45:06

a standard that every coach and player

45:09

has been trying to match ever since. The

45:11

one thing that the Aces hadn't done since Kobe

45:13

graduated, though, was win another

45:16

district championship, not until

45:18

this year, one

45:20

year after his death, twenty five

45:22

years after Kobe had years.

45:27

And there were some neat things about it, you know, the

45:30

due to COVID. The district final was in

45:32

our gym, which is very

45:34

unusual. Um, but

45:37

it it was good. And I think, um, you

45:40

know, coming off of Kobe's passing,

45:42

you know, for us to get ourselves

45:44

together and play good basketball and

45:48

have that connection with his ball

45:50

club is good. And I said

45:52

to the kids, like, you look around this gym like it's it's

45:54

it must be very difficult, daunting to

45:58

say to yourself, like how do how do you get up onto this wall?

46:01

Like as a player, like, you know,

46:03

do you have to score thousand points? You have to be a state

46:06

champion, you have to be a district champion. And

46:08

we told the kids like, if you win that district championship,

46:11

like you're you're going up onto the wall. And

46:14

that's kind of becoming a very

46:17

special thing to to get yourself up

46:19

onto that wall, which is just you

46:22

know, flooded with amazing players.

46:24

And iconic memories. Kobe

46:38

Bryant was that wall's first brick.

46:41

That's true as a metaphor, and that's

46:44

true in reality. He helped

46:46

fund its construction. It's called

46:48

Kobe Bryant Gymnasium. His

46:50

name will be on it forever and connected

46:52

to Lower Merion forever. That's

46:55

his basketball legacy at his high school.

46:58

That was the public side of Kobe as a young maid.

47:01

He was starting to become a celebrity, and

47:03

he was starting to learn how to handle the

47:06

fame that would only grow as his career

47:08

progressed. In the next episode,

47:11

I'll explore that side of Kobe Bryant,

47:13

the young man thrust into extremely

47:16

rarefied circumstances, the kind

47:18

that can change a person forever for

47:20

the better and sometimes for the worst.

47:23

A side of Kobe that only so many

47:25

people got to see. And

47:28

all the classmates who are they're bad mouth and

47:30

the whole thing get in there and like,

47:33

oh, can we have a picture with you? You know, can

47:35

we get caught? And we talked to you? And I'm

47:37

like, you know, bottom of face,

47:43

I don't, I don't know. That's

47:48

next week on I Am Kobe. I

48:16

Am Kobe is a production of the Version podcasts

48:18

in association with I Heart Radio. This

48:21

season is written and hosted by me Mike

48:23

Sealsky. It's produced by Jacob

48:26

Bronstein and directed by Mark Francis.

48:29

Story editing by Jacob Bronstein with editorial

48:31

direction from Scott Waxman, Editing,

48:34

mixing and sound design by Mark Francis.

48:37

Stephen Tompkins is our production assistant.

48:39

Our theme music is Create Yourself

48:42

by Grover Brown featuring Justin Starling

48:45

Find create Yourself wherever you stream of

48:47

music. Music supervisor

48:50

is Scott Velasquez for Fresan Sinc.

48:53

Executive producers are Mark Francis and

48:55

Scott Waxman. Join

48:57

the conversation about I Am Kobe on social

49:00

media on Twitter and Instagram. It's

49:03

at diversion Pots thanks

49:05

to Rain Rosenbaum, Susan Canavan and

49:07

Jeremy Treatment. I Love

49:10

I Rise before the Sun. They don't

49:12

understand when I said the grind is fun. Never

49:14

clock you out, even when my work is done. If

49:16

they're trying to block me, I might hurt someone through

49:19

the blood sweat and says we persefit, stay

49:21

killing and let it keep the horses. And then if

49:23

they don't believe in themselves gave revert to find

49:26

that the Tampa's heads. So I'm telling them, ask

49:28

my am, this the reason why my work

49:31

so damn different to the negatives.

49:33

I can't listen see me at the time.

49:35

You can't listen where

49:38

I'm a vote to play like cash is

49:40

see I pay my dudes because taxes

49:42

gotta work. I thinking grind ahead of his time.

49:45

So I'm saying that they made you. Don't tell them you create

49:47

yourself, Finn

49:50

watch us, but it's

49:52

bad that so you gotta stay

49:54

clock then break black break we create

49:56

ourselves. Watch

49:59

me question right sweeping right to create

50:01

myself? Exac

50:03

client signs up, create

50:06

yourself? Say

50:08

nice, ain't no hard create

50:10

yourself. You gotta learn from the

50:13

great minds though we ain't lying. Tell them

50:15

next game time. This time

50:17

wasn't giving. It was made the future.

50:19

Any time I could change better, tell

50:22

them that I made it back home. As

50:24

I walked through the hearts of the fame, I can't

50:26

from the valley of the shadow with death waiting

50:28

for us. Some spoons don't hold your breath, sat

50:30

Town, sat Train. But I did it with less. I

50:32

know one that to be so there's nothing to guess

50:35

yeah, there's nothing to guess. It's

50:38

our times. Something we up next. We

50:40

don't got any regrets. I did it with my soon

50:42

hands and we never forgets my a. This

50:45

the reason why my I'm working so damn different

50:47

to the negatives. I can't listen

50:49

to see me at the time. You can't listen

50:52

for where, rebuild, reshape,

50:56

give me your you got to risk take do

50:58

it now. When I'm saying why braves, I'm gonna

51:00

saying that they mayn't. You don't tell them you create yourself

51:03

around the best you finn or watch

51:06

us by. It's by that

51:08

time you've gotta snake clack, then break

51:10

black, break we create yourself, watch

51:14

me question, watch the create

51:16

myself sack

51:19

click cline, signs up and create

51:21

yourself. May

51:23

nice and ain't go on create

51:26

yourself. Gotta line for the

51:28

great minds, so we ain't lying. Tell them

51:30

next anytime. Diversion

51:57

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