When Kobe Bryant was six years old in 1984, his father Joe moved the family to Italy in an attempt to scrape by on a few more paychecks following an eight-year NBA career.
Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, a 6-foot-9 forward, has played for the San Diego Clippers, the Houston Rockets, and the Philadelphia 76ers. He has since accepted a contract offer to play for Sebastani Rieti, a team located in the hilltop town of Rieti, some 50 miles from Rome. In alongside finding him a new BMW, the club also gifted him a cottage with a garden. For little Kobe’s use, they even constructed a basketball hoop on the exterior wall.
“Dude, it was strange.” Man, we were having fun.
However, Mike Sielski notes in “The Rise — Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality” (St. Martin’s Press), which will be released on Tuesday, that Kobe’s formative years in Italy contributed to his eventual success as a superstar. According to Sielski, “the essence of the man before he truly became a man” is revealed in his interviews with over 100 people who knew Kobe as well as long-hidden interview transcripts with the late star, some of which were taped when he was a teenager.
Kobe would watch his father play for his new Italian team on Sundays, frequently lending a hand by wiping the perspiration off the court in between plays. Being a bright youngster, he arranged his first sponsorship agreement with Olimpia Pistoia, Joe’s second club in Italy, to wear a sweatshirt bearing their company’s nаme when he cleaned, provided that they also purchased him a brand-new red bicycle.
After dominating the court, he would frequently grab a basketball and captivate the audience with his own version of the Kobe Show. He would only leave the court when the referees ejected him. Sielski describes him as “a miniature version of Joe, mimicking what he had just watched, dribbling between his legs, practicing his jumper, heaving shots from too far out.”
The child was unfazed by the spectators in the arena who would just stand there and gaze. To restart the game, the referees would have to remove him from the court.
Within months of going to a new school, Kobe and his elder sisters were proficient in speaking Italian, complete with all of the swear words. Additionally, according to Sielski, the Bryant family was seen as “both curiosities and celebrities” while residing in Europe. Strangers would buy them coffee or pick up their check at a café whenever they went into town, according to Kobe.
“There, people treat each other as equals,” he stated in a Philadelphia Inquirer interview from 1996. They have no mistrust for one another. When they see you in the street, they sаy hi. Family is also very important there.
According to Sielski, the Bryant family also grew closer and stronger as a family, especially with his mother Pam, who was the real head of the household.
