Plymouth Whitemarsh and Abington honor, remember Kobe Bryant

ABINGTON >> Kobe Bryant’s death in a helicopter accident Sunday devastated the basketball world, especially in the Greater Philadelphia Area.

When Plymouth Whitemarsh and Abington took the floor Tuesday night, it was the first game for either team since the Lower Merion star passed away.

The Ghosts won the opening tip and held the ball for 24 seconds before running their offense.

“Everybody was really hurt,” Abington senior Manir Waller said. “I shed a couple tears by myself. Everybody was hurt by the tragedy. We just wanted to show him some respect. We respect him and look up to him.”

“I teach here also,” Abington head coach Charles Grasty said. “I have a lot of these guys in my class and Kobe’s death — all of their deaths — hit our guys. I got messages saying it felt like one of their family members had passed. (Taking 24 seconds off) was something I’ve been watching go on in the NBA and college and it was something that I wanted to throw out there. Coach Donofrio was very receptive of it, his whole staff, so that was a good thing. It was something to honor one of the greats, someone that a lot of these guys grew up watching and emulating, calling him the GOAT and wanting to be like Kobe.”

Tuesday’s game between Suburban One League American Conference rivals featured three coaches with experience against Bryant — Grasty, Plymouth Whitemarsh head coach Jim Donofrio and Plymouth whitemarsh assistant coach Chuck Moore.

Grasty

“Kobe was a special person,” Grasty said. “I had a chance to play against him. He was a heck of a player. I still tell my son about him. It’s definitely emotional for us as well. He’s a Lower Merion kid — that’s 35 minutes down the road and I got to see him play a lot in high school. It’s just such a tragedy, not only for Kobe but for all the other families.”

Donofrio

“The first time we saw Kobe was 1994,” Donofrio, who was an assistant coach at Plymouth Whitemarsh at the time, said. “He was a sophomore. We played at PW and it was a war. We were holding about a 15-point lead going into the fourth quarter and thought we were safe. He hit six threes I think in the fourth. We went, like, 18-for-20 from the foul line and every time we looked up the lead kept shrinking. His three was topping our two. We just had to pray the game ran out. The head coach at the time, Al Angelos, said, ‘Wait til you see this kid tonight. He’s a pro.’ We thought he was crazy because he’s talking about a 10th-grade kid. Every time he stepped over half-court he took a further step back. We kept stretching the 2-3 zone, he kept making them.

“That is a very unique human being. He was in our summer league for two years in a row at PW. We had an incredible summer league of Chester and Roman Catholic, Simon Gratz was through the roof and us and Lower Merion. You had 30-to-40 Division I coaches a night watching him. We got to see him six, seven, eight, 10, 12 times there and then I was coaching the Don-Len team in my dad’s tournament at the Fel (Fellowship House of Conshohocken). In the semifinal game we had Don-Len against the Sonny Hill Seniors, so I had to stare at Kobe there, it was like 133-110 or something. We played great but it didn’t matter. He had a following as a senior in high school at that time. He was giving autographs and all the little kids were following him around.

“He was a fascinating talent and a brilliant guy. People don’t realize he was educated in Europe, he had exceptional test scores. We learned about him when he came over. He was a very unique young guy, a very unique killer as a competitor. To show the impact he had it was such a sad day for so many people around the country who felt like they knew him. We were fortunate to get to know him, get to see him workout. After our summer league games he would ask to get a ball and just stay for a little bit and workout anywhere he could.

“I saw him take three Norristown guys at half-court at a state game at Wissahickon High, neutral site game. He was trapped at half-court and up the sideline. He literally just split three guys, calmly. Sold out. He played in our place, sold out for a state game, neutral site. You don’t see too many high school superstars. He would sign autographs as an 11th grader.

“Fascinatingly, exceptional guy and it was sad to see, obviously with his daughter in the helicopter, and also where he was going with his life. To be able to have a big smile on his face you saw lately and what he was trying to do. He was evolving into something very, very special. To finally take off the competitive gloves, but still at the same time was just under the surface, evolving more as a person.”

Moore

“Just yesterday we had a little moment before practice to talk about my experiences and (coach Donofrio’s),” Moore, a 1997 PW grad, said. “I was a freshman in high school. I had played JV all season and I finally got moved up to varsity. My first playoff game in the district was against Lower Merion and it was at our place at PW. I’ll never forget — I walked in probably an hour before the game started. As I walked in I saw a tall, skinny, lanky kid — had a bald head — just warming up. Back then I guess there were no rules how early you could get there to warm up. Here it was Kobe working out, working on his three-ball, working on his post-up, working on getting to the basket. Coach already told you — he probably hit six, seven threes in that game, but those threes he made in the game were already made by the preparation and work ethic that he had prior to it. That just speaks volumes on who he was. He had this incredible work ethic that carried him to this fame, this stardom, that we got to enjoy until his passing

“From there I always idolized him. He was always a competitor, but I always looked up to him. When they won the states in ’96, that was inspiration for me to go and follow suit. In ’97 we ended up winning it. Not a lot of people know that, but Kobe’s success, watching him his senior year, led to our success my senior year. Big fan, devastated by the loss, true icon. His legacy will certainly continue.”