Kobe Bryant, a well-known American basketball star, is the son of Joe Bryant (Joseph Washington Bryant). During his approximately 20-year NBA career, Kobe won five NBA titles while playing for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Although he did not have the same level of success as his son, Joe Bryant had a long career in the workforce. He spent almost eight years in the NBA before leaving to pursue his career there.
In order to become one of the greatest basketball players ever, Kobe did in fact learn a lot from his father. The father-son connection was a little complex, as he has acknowledged numerous times in public.
Joe used to watch his son play frequently, but over the course of Kobe’s final NBA seasons, that had decreased. In 2016, he made no effort to attend his son’s retirement ceremony.
There are, however, explanations for it.
Although we obviously don’t know everything about their personal lives, we have made an effort to provide as much information as we can in the piece below.
Kobe Bryant Father | Joe’s Relationship with Kobe
To learn about Joe’s complex relationship with his son Kobe, one shouldn’t delve too far. He was one of Michael Johnson’s and Magic Johnson’s childhood heroes, but by the time he was a teenager, his son had grown to dislike him.
Initially, when Kobe was still a student and felt like he would never succeed in basketball, Joe would encourage him. With Joe’s encouragement and help, Kobe went on to do many things that he had never dreamed of doing as a child.
Joe wasn’t always his son’s favorite, though. Even though he made an effort to be kind to his son, Kobe occasionally lost his cool.
When Kobe introduced his fiancée, Vanessa Cornejo, and assured them he would marry her in 2001, one of the first arguments occurred.
Kobe was so irritated by Joe and his wife’s disapproval of their relationship that he avoided them for over two years. Following the 2003 birth of their granddaughter Natalia, Joe and his son managed to get closer.
However, in the years that followed, Kobe frequently made derogatory remarks about his parents. He once told the media that he had a poor relationship with his parents.
Similar to this, he previously said—directly alluding to his parents’ engagement in his work life—that parents should continue to be parents and not their children’s managers.
The other significant disagreement between them started in 2013 when Joe and his wife chose to sell Kobe’s sports collectibles to an auction firm without consulting him. Later, Kobe seized everything he owned and accused his parents of being to blame for the incident.
Joe later expressed regret for his error, though.
Quick Facts
| Full Name | Joseph Washington Bryant |
| Known As | Joe Bryant |
| Nickname | Jellybean |
| Date of Birth | October 19, 1954 |
| Age | 67 years old |
| Gender | Male |
| Sexual Orientation | Straight |
| Height | 2.06 m (6 feet 9 inches) |
| Weight | 175 lb (80 kg) |
| Zodiac Sign | Libra |
| Birth Place | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the USA |
| Religion | Christian |
| Nationality | American |
| Ethnicity | African-American |
| Eye Color | Light Brown |
| Skin Color | Dark |
| Tattoos | No |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Wife | Pamela “Pam” Bryant |
| Kids | Sharia Bryant, Shaya Bryant, Kobe Bryant |
| Father’s Name | Joseph Washington Bryant Sr. |
| Mother’s Name | Georgia Marie |
| High School | John Bartram High School (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) |
| College Name | La Salle University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) |
| Profession | Basketball Player |
| NBA draft | 1975 / Round: 1 / 14th pick overall |
| Active Years | 1975 – 1991 |
| Jersey Numbers | 22, 23 |
| Net Worth | $5 million |
| Social Media | Not available |
| Merch of Kobe Bryant | The Mamba Mentality: How I Play (Hardcover), Kobe Bryant: The Greatest of All (Prime Video) |
| Last Update | July 2022 |
Kobe Bryant Father | Early Life, Family
Joe Bryant, sometimes known as Joseph Washington Bryant, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 19, 1954. He is the child of Georgia Marie and Joseph Washington Bryant.
Joe’s parents had moved to Pennsylvania before he was born, even though Joe’s father had previously been from the state of Georgia. His parents brought him up in Philadelphia, where he remained until making his NBA debut.
Education
Regarding his education, Bryant attended John Bartram High School after finishing middle school at a nearby community college. Later, for his higher education, he enrolled at La Salle University in the same state.
But after completing his second year of college, he decided to leave.
Kobe Bryant Father | Basketball Career
Before joining the NBA, Joe Bryant played basketball for the La Salle Explorers and John Bartram High School. Bryant had an extremely prosperous career while playing for the Explorers.
Joe had an average of 18.7 points and 10.8 rebounds per game in 26 games during his rookie campaign. His effectiveness improved much more during his sophomore campaign.
Once his second season was through, the power forward from Philadelphia felt secure enough to declare for the NBA draft in 1975. He was selected by the Golden State Warriors with the 14th overall pick in the first round of the draft.
Joe, known as “Jellybean,” played in the NBA for around eight seasons before 1983. Sadly, his NBA career had a terrible beginning and did not gain steam until the fifth season.
His later seasons, though, were rather admirable. He left for Europe to resume his basketball career after the Houston Rockets released him.
For nearly eight years, Bryant participated in league basketball for numerous clubs in France and Italy. In 1992, he ultimately made the decision to stop playing in all game types and began a coaching career.
Coaching Career
When he was hired as the coach for the US Armed Force in Italy in 1992, Joe had his first coaching experience. Soon after that, he went back to America and took a job as head coach at the Pennsylvania-based Akiba Hebrew Academy.
Later, he served as a coach for a number of groups both domestically and internationally, including the Los Angeles Sparks WNBA team in 2011. Eventually, in 2015, after serving as the head coach of the Japanese team Rizing Fukuoka, he made the decision to end his coaching career.
Kobe Bryant Father | Age, Weight & Height
Age 67 is Joe Bryant’s. Bryant has a height of 2.06 meters (or 6 feet 9 inches).
He is relatively light for his height, nevertheless. The former professional athlete is now about 185 lbs (84 kg).
In addition, Joe is entirely bald and has lost all of his hair, maybe due to aging. He wears glasses and has dark brown eyes, to talk more about his facial characteristics. In addition, he typically maintains a small goatee to improve his appearance despite shaving clean.
Kobe Bryant Father | Net Worth
A number of websites on the Internet estimate Joe Bryant’s net worth to be approximately $5 million. It might be accurate to say that he made a solid living playing basketball because he had a more than fifteen-year professional career and was selected highly by the NBA.
Additionally, over the course of his almost twenty-year coaching career, he gathered more money.
His son Kobe, who has a net worth of almost $600 million, is the richest family member.
Kobe Bryant Father | Personal Life
Pamela Bryant, sometimes known as Pam, is an American socialite who is married to Joe Bryant. In their nearly 50-year romance, the two have been married since 1975 and have never broken up.
Pam, like Joe, was a Philadelphia native, and the two already knew one another before Joe began his NBA career. Despite the fact that Joe frequently saw her while Pam was visiting her cousin, he originally lacked the confidence to approach her.
But he had already told his pals he would marry her someday. He eventually proposed to her in 1974 after numerous failed efforts, and they dated for almost seven months before being hitched in 1975.
Joe and Pam Bryant had three children. Sharia, their first child, was born in 1977, a year after their wedding. Shaya Bryant, their second child, was also born on July 30, 1977.
Now, each of their daughters is married and has three children. Despite being married, they maintain a close relationship with their parents and are prosperous entrepreneurs.
Last but not least, on August 23, 1978, they welcomed their famous son, Kobe. Later, he surpassed his father in popularity in the basketball community.
Kobe’s Life & Career
Kobe Bryant was the only child of Joe and Pam Bryant and was initially born and reared in Pennsylvania. After spending around six years of his life there, Kobe and his parents relocated to Italy in 1983, the same year Joe started his professional career with the Italian team AMG Sebastiani.
Before moving back to Philadelphia, Kobe spent almost eight years in Italy and a brief time in France. Kobe developed a love of sports, particularly football, as he spent the most of his time in Europe.
However, because of his father’s influence, young Bryant was always interested in basketball. So, after coming back to the country, he began taking his basketball seriously.
Kobe developed his guard skills rather fast, which allowed him to enter the NBA draft right out of high school. Despite being selected by the Charlotte Hornets in the draft, Kobe made his NBA debut in 1996 with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Bryant became one of the greatest NBA players of all time while playing for the LA Lakers throughout his career. Then, in 2016, he made his retirement official.
Kobe had a vibrant personality and was involved in a variety of activities outside of basketball. The legendary basketball player appeared in numerous movies and television series, and he also worked with charities and businesses.
He, unfortunately, had a very brief life. In 2020, Kobe perished in a helicopter crash not far from the Calabasas, California, mountains while traveling there to watch a crucial basketball game. In addition to his daughter Gianna, eleven other persons perished in the collision.
He passed away while he was only 41 years old.
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