Kobe Bryant is in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame now, along with contemporaries Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett, headliners of a group of nine who got their delayed and long-awaited enshrinement on Saturday night, more than a year after being announced as the Hall’s Class of 2020.
Vanessa Bryant got a private tour to see some of the newly remodeled Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday, viewing the exhibit that will honor the life and legacy of her late husband before the rest of the world gets their first look.
FILE - In this Nov. 14, 1993, file photo, Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula is carried on his team's shoulders after his 325th victory, against the Philadelphia Eagles in Philadelphia. Not long after came a seismic jolt, the helicopter crash of Kobe Bryant in the fog-shrouded California hills that reverberated across sports and across continents. Football lost a big piece of its heart: Don Shula, Gale Sayers, Paul Hornung, Bobby Mitchell. The losses, of course, came against a backdrop of a pandemic, its number of fatalities rolled out daily on TV screens. Kurt Thomas in 1978 became the first U.S. male gymnast to win a world title but lost an Olympic shot in 1980 because of the boycott.
The world also said goodbye to U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a lion of the civil rights movement who died in July. Other former political figures who died this year include Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, New York Mayor David Dinkins, Arizona Gov. Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2020 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):___JANUARY___David Stern, 77. The guitarist who supplied the scratching, seething sound that fueled the highly influential British punk band Gang of Four. He fused African rhythms with funk to become one of the most influential musicians in world dance music.
FILE - In this April 13, 2016, file photo, Los Angeles Lakers forward Kobe Bryant smiles during the first half of his last NBA basketball game, against the Utah Jazz in Los Angeles. Because of the coronavirus outbreak, the reopening has been pushed back two months to July 1 and the induction ceremony is being postponed, either to October or the spring. Complicating the potential possibility of a spring 2021 induction: The Hall doesnt know what the NBA and college basketball seasons will look like then. Doleva said the Hall decided against inducting Bryant alone and gave no thought to having a separate ceremony for him. Theyre all Hall of Famers, and all Hall of Famers are equal in the eyes of the museum.___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Eddie Sutton waited so long to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Through it all, he remained wildly popular at Oklahoma State, often attending games while confined to a wheelchair. Oklahoma State University is deeply saddened by the passing of Coach Eddie Sutton, Oklahoma State president Burns Hargis said in a statement. He finished his run in Fayetteville nine straight trips to the NCAA basketball tournament. He led Oklahoma State from 1991 to 2006.
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