Mamba Question #15 comes from the ICONIC athlete Kobe Bryant: Kobe Bean Bryant was born on August 23, 1978, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Bryant is the son of former NBA player Joe "Jellybean" Bryant. In 1984, after ending his NBA career, the elder Bryant took the family to Italy, where he played in the Italian League. Growing up in Italy alongside two athletic older sisters, Shaya and Sharia, Bryant was an avid player of both basketball and soccer. Bryant's family returned to Philadelphia in 1991, Bryant joined the Lower Merion High School basketball team with an eye on the NBA. Though he had good grades and high SAT scores, Bryant decided to go straight to the NBA from high school. He was selected by the Charlotte Hornets with the 13th overall pick of the 1996 NBA draft and was subsequently traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. In his second season with the Lakers, Bryant was voted a starter for the 1998 All-Star Game, becoming the youngest All-Star in NBA history at 19. The shooting guard then teamed up with superstar center Shaquille O'Neal to win three consecutive NBA championships and was voted first-team all-NBA from 2002-2004. He also inked multi-year endorsement deals with Adidas, Sprite and other top sponsors. In 2008, Bryant was named Most Valuable Player and carried his team to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Boston Celtics. In the 2009 NBA Finals, the Lakers beat the Orlando Magic to win the championship. The following year, the Lakers won their second straight title. Bryant played on both the 2008 and 2012 U.S. Olympic teams, winning consecutive gold medals. After suffering a torn Achilles tendon in April 2013, Bryant worked hard to return to the court. However, in November 2015, he announced that he would retire at the end of the season. Bryant announced his upcoming retirement from the Lakers with a poem, titled "Dear Basketball." The athletic great soon sought the best in other fields to turn his poem into a short film, including Disney animator Glen Keane and composer John Williams.The result was a beautifully rendered five-minute, 20-second film, which debuted at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival. Oscar voters took note, leading to Bryant accepting an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 2018. Among his philanthropic endeavors, the basketball great partnered with the non-profit After-School All-Stars as part of the Kobe & Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation. He also ran an annual summer camp called the Kobe Basketball Academy. Bryant married Vanessa Laine in April 2001. The couple are parents to four daughters: Natalia, Gianna, Bianka and Capri. On January 26, 2020, Bryant was onboard a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter that crashed in the Los Angeles suburb of Calabasas. Nine people, including Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna "Gigi," died. The helicopter was on its way from Orange County to Thousands Oaks, California where Bryant was scheduled to coach a tournament game at Mamba Sports Academy.