Joe Bryant, Father Of Basketball Legend Kobe Bryant, Dies At 69

Professional basketball veteran Joe Bryant has died at the age of 69, according to his college alma mater.

The death of the athlete and coach, who was the father of the late NBA legend Kobe Bryant, was announced by his former team, the La Salle University Explorers, on Tuesday.

“We are saddened to announce the passing of La Salle basketball great Joe Bryant,” the team posted in a statement on social media.

“Joe played for the Explorers from 1973-75 and was a member of our coaching staff from 1993-96,” the statement went on. “He was a beloved member of the Explorer family and will be dearly missed.”

La Salle head coach Fran Dunphy told The Philadelphia Inquirer that Bryant recently had a serious stroke.

Nicknamed “Jellybean” for his fondness for sweets, Bryant played eight seasons in the NBA after being drafted as a first-round pick by the Golden State Warriors in 1975.

Once his run in the NBA ended in 1983, Bryant thrived for a time in basketball’s European leagues. He retired from playing pro ball in 1991 and moved back to the Philadelphia area with his family.

Bryant’s next chapter was as a coach, leading teams in Japan, Italy and Hong Kong and serving as head coach of the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks from 2005 to 2007 and again in 2011.

Bryant’s death comes four and a half years after his son Kobe and his granddaughter Gigi died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, along with seven other people. Kobe Bryant was 41. Gigi was 13.

Joe Bryant is survived by his wife, Pam, and their daughters, Sharia B. Washington and Shaya Tabb.