Philadelphia
\nJoe \u201cJellybean\u201d Bryant, a National Basketball Association (NBA) player and the father of late basketball Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant, breathed his last on Tuesday at the age of 69. According to a New York Times report, Joe\u2019s death was confirmed by the athletic department at La Salle University in Philadelphia, the college where he became a basketball standout.
\nHowever, it did not reveal where he died or give the cause of death. Joe, the six-foot-nine forward played on the Bartram High School and La Salle University basketball teams, averaging over 20 points and 11 rebounds for the university.
\nHe won the Public League Player of the Year in 1972 and was chosen 14th overall in the 1975 NBA draft by the Golden State Warriors. His rights were sold to the Philadelphia 76ers less than four months after his debut.
\nJoe found greater success playing in Italy as there were fewer games each season and more time off. He averaged 30 points or more a game, far above his 8.7 average in the NBA.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve become a family man,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the United States, I was more of a traveling man.\u201d He went on to a coaching career for several teams in Asia as well as with the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women\u2019s NBA.
\nJoe and his family, including wife Pamela Cox, Kobe and two daughters, Sharia and Shaya moved back to the Philadelphia area after his playing career ended.
\nFor quite some time, Joe and his wife had been estranged from Kobe, who died at the age of 41 with his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, in a helicopter crash near Los Angeles in 2020.
\nJoe\u2019s estranged daughter-in-law Vanessa Bryant publicly acknowledged his passing with a touching post on her Instagram story, where she wrote: \u201cSending our condolences upon hearing the news of my father in law\u2019s passing. We hoped things would\u2019ve been different.
\n\u201cAlthough the times we spent together were few, he was always sweet and nice to be around. Kobe loved him very much. Our prayers go out to family.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Philadelphia Joe \u201cJellybean\u201d Bryant, a National Basketball Association (NBA) player and the father of late basketball Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant, breathed his last on Tuesday at the age of 69. According to a New York Times report, Joe\u2019s death was confirmed by the athletic department at La Salle University in Philadelphia, the college where […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419209,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-419188","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n