Vanessa Bryant is present every step of the way to ensure her husband and daughter’s legacy lives on. The mother of four suffered a tragic loss when her longtime husband, NBA legend Kobe Bryant, and their 13-year-old daughter Gianna, died in a helicopter crash in January 2020. Since then, Bryant and her surviving daughters – Natalia, Bianka, and Kapri – have attended countless memorials and ceremonies honoring their beloved husband, father, and sister.
Bryant has also taken over Kobe’s Mamba Sports Foundation, which he dedicated to empowering young girls through basketball. She’s since renamed it the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation to incorporate Gianna. There are murals of the close-knit father-daughter pair all throughout the world. But Bryant recently attended an unveiling of a mural and basketball court in their honor in Kobe’s hometown of Philadelphia.
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Though born and raised for much of his early years overseas, Kobe moved to Lower Merion, Pennslyvania, a suburb of Philly in his adolescents. There, his love and talent for the sport was cultivated. The Mural Arts Foundation of Philadelphia worked in partnership to create the artwork in the Overbrook section of the city. Bryant couldn’t be more proud, sharing the moments from the ceremony on Instagram. The mural is featured in the Tustin Playground in an effort to make basketball more accessible to kids, as well as to provide a safe environment for kids to play.
“PHILADELPHIA – where my husband’s love for basketball all began. Today, in the historic Tustin Playground and thanks to the generous contributions of donors, fans, and friends, our foundation @mambamambacitasports opened 2 more @dream_courts with @nlcharities, which were beautifully surrounded by the artwork of @Art_by_Ernel,” she captioned part of the post. “I chose this location so that young people in this community may have a safe space to play with equal opportunity which was important to Kobe and Gianna,” Bryant, who was pictured wearing Kobe’s high school varsity jacket, shared. “We are grateful to the City of Philadelphia, @muralarts for welcoming this project and helping to make it a reality.”
Bryant shared photos and videos from the court’s unveiling. The mural is decked in the LA Lakers’ famous gold and purple colors featuring Kobe and Gianna’s jersey numbers. She also revealed the playground is the same Kobe played in when he was a child.
