Joe Bryant, the former NBA player and WNBA coach with a colorful nickname, has died at age 69, four and a half years after his son, Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, his granddaughter Gianna Bryant and seven others died in a helicopter crash.
Fran Dunphy, the coach at Joe Bryant’s alma mater, La Salle, told the Philadelphia Inquirer on Tuesday that Bryant recently suffered a debilitating stroke.
A teammate at John Bartram High School in Philadelphia nicknamed Bryant “Jellybean” because he had a wide range of movements despite his 6-foot-10 frame. “It must be jelly because jam don’t shake like that,” Bryant recalled hearing, quoting Glenn Miller’s World War II hit song.
The nickname stuck (Bryant also liked to eat gummies), and he became a star. He was voted High School Public League Player of the Year in 1972, then stayed in Philadelphia to attend La Salle, averaging 20.3 points and 11.1 rebounds per game over his two seasons.
Paul Westhead, La Salle’s coach at the time, seconded all of Jellybean’s motions.
“He had a lot of talent,” Westhead said. “He would cut you up in every way.”
Bryant was selected 14th overall in the 1975 NBA draft and was traded to the Golden State Warriors, who sold his rights to his hometown Philadelphia 76ers shortly before the start of the 1975–76 season. Bryant’s most memorable moment as a player may have come in his first game with the Clippers, when he dunked over 7-foot-4 Lakers center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Also in 1975, Bryant, aged 20, married Pam Cox, the sister of former NBA player Chubby Cox, and they had two daughters, Sharia and Shaya, in addition to their son, Kobe.
Bryant was a key contributor as a backup for four years in Philadelphia, playing behind future Hall of Famers and fellow forwards George McGinnis and Julius Erving. The 76ers made the playoffs in each of Bryant’s seasons, losing in the NBA Finals to the Portland Trail Blazers in 1977.
The 76ers traded Bryant to the San Diego Clippers before the 1979-80 season for a future first-round draft pick and his playing time nearly doubled. He averaged 11 points and 5.5 rebounds in three seasons with the Clippers before averaging 10 points with the Houston Rockets in his final NBA season.
“Joe ‘Jellybean’ Bryant was a local basketball icon whose legacy on the court transcended his time at Bartram High School, La Salle University and his first four NBA seasons with the 76ers from 1975-79,” the Sixers said in a statement. “Our condolences go out to the Bryant family.”
Bryant then embarked on a nomadic career abroad as a player and coach, with his family by his side. He played until 1992 in Italy and France, returning to Philadelphia only as Kobe was about to start high school. Bryant served as the head coach of the Akiba Hebrew Academy girls’ team in 1992-93 before joining La Salle as an assistant for Kobe’s entire career at Lower Merion High.
“We are saddened to announce the passing of La Salle basketball great Joe Bryant,” the school said in a news release. “Joe played for the Explorers from 1973-75 and was a member of our coaching staff from 1993-96. He was a valued member of the Explorers family and will be greatly missed.”
Shortly after graduating from high school, Kobe was drafted by the Charlotte Hornets and immediately traded to the Lakers in 1996.
Joe and Pam Bryant moved to Los Angeles with their 17-year-old son and had to co-sign his first contract with the Lakers, a three-year, $3.5 million deal, because Kobe was too young to sign himself.
The Lakers rookie used some of his newfound wealth to buy cars for Joe, Pam, Sharia and Shaya, who all lived with him in Pacific Palisades for three years until Joe and Pam bought a house less than a mile away.
“We weren’t going to let him come here alone,” Joe told Times columnist Bill Plaschke in early 2003.
“My family has always been there for me,” Kobe said at the time. “I love them for that.”
Their relationship remained strong until Kobe courted and eventually married Orange County teenager Vanessa Laine in 2001.
“It’s written in the Bible,” Kobe said. “When you get married, your mother, father and sisters are no longer your priority.”
His parents weren’t at Kobe and Vanessa’s wedding, or at their new home. When Lower Merion High School retired Bryant’s jersey in 2002, Joe and Pam sat in one section of the stands, Vanessa in another.
Why the tension? Kobe explained that his father, who was younger than him when he married Pam at age 20, was uncomfortable with his love for Vanessa and didn’t like that she was Latino. Joe said, “Once he decided to get married, it was his life from then on.”
Vanessa Bryant posted a message on Instagram on Tuesday: “Sending my condolences after hearing the news of my father-in-law’s passing. We hoped things would have been different. Even though we spent little time together, he was always kind and enjoyable to be around. Kobe loved him very much. Our prayers are with the family.”
Bryant returned to coaching in 2003, spending a year with the Las Vegas Rattlers and a year with the Boston Frenzy of the American Basketball Association. He joined the WNBA and became head coach of the Sparks for two seasons, leading LA to a 25-9 record and a berth in the Conference Finals in 2006. A year later, he was replaced by former Lakers star Michael Cooper.
“I am devastated to hear of the loss of my friend Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, Kobe Bryant’s father,” Magic Johnson wrote on X. “Joe was not only a talented basketball player; he was also a great coach.
“Joe was an exceptional human being with a radiant smile that had the power to light up any room, and a wonderful husband and father. Cookie and I are praying for his wife Pam, his daughters Sharia and Shaya, and the rest of the Bryant family, friends and all who loved Joe.”
From 2007 to 2015, Bryant coached several teams in Japan, Italy, and Southeast Asia. As late as 2013, Bryant regularly practiced on the basketball court on the second floor of the Los Angeles apartment building where he and Pam lived.
His training? He would throw 120 shots, 60 at each end – 20 on the left side, 20 on the right side, 20 in the middle – proving to himself that “Jellybean” could still move at 60.