Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, father of Kobe Bryant, dies at age 69

Kobe Bryant’s father, Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, has passed away, according to ESPN and many others. He was 69 years old. Joe Bryant’s NBA career spanned eight seasons in the 1970s and 1980s. He also had a notable next chapter of his basketball life that took place outside the United States. All NBA and collegiate basketball statistics are sourced from Basketball Reference.

While nothing official has been reported regarding Joe Bryant’s cause of death, current La Salle basketball coach Fran Dunphy told the Philadelphia Inquirer that Bryant had recently suffered a severe stroke. Joe Bryant played his college basketball at La Salle.

Jellybean is one of the most unique and catchy nicknames in basketball history. Joe Bryant was reportedly given the moniker back when he was a player at John Bertram High School in Philadelphia. According to the Los Angeles Times, a teammate gave him the nickname because of his wide-ranging moves on the court, despite being 6’9” tall.

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Joe Bryant’s story began on October 19, 1954 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a bit of a local hero, both as a player in his early days and giving back to the community later in life.

Joe Bryant was the junior varsity basketball coach at Lower Merion High School, where Kobe Bryant played. Doug Young played with Kobe and was coached by Joe, and told ESPN, “I could not have asked for a more positive mentor, teacher and role model. It’s difficult to overstate how much he (Joe) influenced me and my teammates.”

Joe Bryant decided to stay local during his collegiate playing days, as he suited up for nearby La Salle University. As a sophomore and junior, Bryant averaged over 20 points and 11 rebounds per game.

Bryant was selected by the Golden State Warriors with the 14^th overall pick in the 1975 NBA Draft. However, his agent and the team could not come to terms, as detailed by the New York Times. He was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers before his rookie season.

Joe Bryant would spend four seasons with the Sixers, before playing a more prominent role on the San Diego Clippers and Houston Rockets for the final four seasons of his NBA career. He averaged just under nine points and four rebounds in his eight-year NBA run.

Bryant would take his professional talents overseas to Italy, where he would find a home, and where Kobe would spend his formative years growing up. According to a 1985 New York Times article that checked up on him, Joe Bryant was averaging nearly 35 points per game playing for Rieti.

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Joe Bryant only played one game a week in the Italian league, which prompted him to tell the New York Times, “I’ve become a family man. In the United States, I was more of a traveling man.” He also said, “It’s amazing. They (his children) speak it (Italian) beautifully. Kids are very open-minded.”

In 2010, Kobe Bryant told ESPN that his dad was “a great basketball mind,” and that Joe taught him “from an early age how to view the game, how to prepare for the game and how to execute.”

Joe Bryant appeared to have a knack for teaching the sport. In addition to his coaching work in Philadelphia and his mentorship of Kobe, Jellybean Bryant was also a coach in Japan and Thailand, according to the New York Post. He also coached the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA.

However, things reportedly became tense between Joe Bryant and Kobe Bryant as the latter became an adult. Joe Bryant and his wife, Pamela, objected to Kobe’s relationship with his future wife, Vanessa, according to the Daily Mail and many other outlets. Kobe Bryant’s parents were allegedly not in attendance for his wedding to Vanessa.

Kobe Bryant told ESPN in 2016 that he hadn’t spoken to either of his parents in three years. “I say (to them) I’m going to buy you a very nice home,” and their (his parents’) response was, “That’s not good enough.” Joe Bryant also allegedly sold some of Kobe Bryant’s memorabilia over the years, without his son’s blessing. This prompted Kobe to file a lawsuit against his father.

However, Fox Sports and others reported that Kobe Bryant was actively attempting to fix the rocky relationship he had with his father after his retirement from the NBA. “After he quit basketball he did see his parents again. His kids were also spending periods of time with his father. That relationship was tricky, but they worked through it.”

According to ABC News, Joe Bryant didn’t make many public appearances after Kobe and his granddaughter, Gianna, were killed in a helicopter accident in January 2020.

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