Rob Pelinka Speaks at A Celebration of Life for Kobe and Gianna Bryant

our next speaker is the general manager of the Los Angeles Lakers before that he was Kobe's agent and most notably for our purposes today he is one of Kobe's closest and best friends and Godfather to GG please welcome rob pálinka [Applause] the world knows Kobe as a basketball legend but I've been blessed for 20 years to know him as so much more the Kobe I know had three unique sides that I hope to quickly honor today Kobe the best friend Kobe the dad and Kobe the husband I will start with Kobe the best friend do you remember where you were on that foggy sunless morning of January 26 when the axis of the world seemed to shift forever for all of us I was in Sunday church with my family my phone was deep in the pocket of my jeans when I felt the familiar text buzz for a second I ignored the notification because I was in church but for some reason with this text I felt a sudden urge to check my phone I slipped it out of my jeans and discovered the text was from Kobe there was nothing uncharacteristic or unfamiliar about this for the last two decades Kobe and I talked or texted every single day because that's what best friends do in that moment my instincts were to put the phone down and get back to the preacher sermon but a gentle otherworldly nudge compelled me to open the text so I did I quickly saw that Kobe was asking me if I happen to know a certain baseball agent based in Southern California since Kobe's question didn't have any urgency to do it I decided I'd wait until after church to respond but then again there was a gentle nudge I grabbed my phone and text Kobe back that I had seen the baseball agent at a Lakers game just the other night and was happy to help him with whatever he wanted it was now just past 9:30 Kobe text back explaining his desire to help a friend of his secured a baseball agency internship for one of his young daughters Kobe vouched for the girl's character intellect and work ethic he clearly wanted to champion a bright future for her i text kobe right back and said i would put a plan in motion to help him get that done a handful of minutes later Koby and Gianna and seven other beautiful Souls ascended into heaven Kobe had been texting me from the helicopter the girl in that text chain was that he was wanting to help so badly was Lexi Altobelli the surviving daughter of coach John l2 belly who was also on the helicopters Kobe's last human act was heroic he wanted to use his platform to bless and shape a young girl's future hasn't Kobe done that for all of us Kobe was literally the best friend anyone could ask for he always championed and passionately celebrated the accomplishments of others and downplayed his own the man who had won multiple NBA titles MVPs and an Oscar would buzz with excitement when someone he loved would reach even a simple goal with any achievement Kobe was always the first to call this was one of his greatest gifts as a friend than something I will forever miss there's one story that shows this beautiful side to Kobe as Vanessa shared in the years following his retirement Kobe was often one of the first carpools to pick up his daughters from school with Kobe in pole position my kids who attended the same school also got to see him often every time they would see him he would greet them with an enthusiasm if they had just one student of the year the other day my nine-year-old daughter Emery had big tears in her eyes because she was so badly missing uncle Kobe and gg when I asked her why she said daddy whenever Kobe would see me he would run to me and scoop me up in his giant arms and raise me high above his head Kobe always made me feel like I was queen of the world Kobe had a depth of care for people that is unparalleled he made every moment magical as if it was living a fantasy novel this was the case when my family and the Bryant's went on a camping or I should say trip to Montana we canoed and rode horses went fly-fishing and river rafting and rode on a stagecoach to a campfire dinner under the stars at each turn Coby made everything an adventure especially for the kids and of course with all the wilderness activities we did they had to be done to the enth degree if it was fly-fishing we had to learn to tie our own flies and fish standing in the stream with heavy waiter boots on no shortcuts Kobe's enthusiasm and joy for all things life made that trip one for a lifetime another remarkable friendship quality of Kobey's is that he mastered the art of making the things his friends loved things that he loved when I got the Lakers GM job Kobe would often say that my life and his life had flipped flopped instead of him I was now the one with the regimented Lakers schedule of practices games and road trips I was now the one daily commuting up the 405 from the OSI to LA on the flip side Kobe was home chillin in Newport Beach doing all his Kobe ink work from his favorite spot in the world having lived the demands of the NBA for 20 years Kobe understood the toll it would take on my family time so he and Vanessa would regularly check in with my wife and kids to make sure everything was good and even celebrate how holidays like Halloween with them that's what friends do Kobe lived to make other people's life's better all the way up until his final text the day after Kobe was gone I was at home and feeling totally lost I couldn't imagine life without the strength and guidance of my best friend as part of my grieving I felt an overwhelming need to connect with something tangible that represented our friendship a picture of voicemail something that Kobe left behind my wife reminded me of the Wiz an artbook Kobe authored and had recently given to me I went upstairs and found the book in my library and opened it and on the inside cover he had penned in his with his own pen these to RP my brother may you always remember to enjoy the road especially when it's a hard one love Kobe Kobe wrote these words to me just a few months ago now I realized that perhaps they were meant for us all Kobe my brother this road is so so hard and I don't know how to journey on without you but I know you want us to keep going in our memories with you will give us strength to somehow move forward and as you wrote even in the valley of unimaginable loss we will somehow find a way to have joy on Jacobi's next side Kobe the dad when Kobe retired from playing basketball people would often ask me what how I thought he would fuel his competitive drive the answers came in a couple surprising ways the first was in a new sport tennis right after Kobe stopped playing for the Lakers we took up playing tennis at a local private club in Newport Beach we began having epic one-on-one battles I picked the game up faster than him so early on he would often fall behind and that did not sit well with Kobe at all so what does the Black Mamba do the next few times I arrived at the club there he was waited for me already with a full sweat as his tennis skills exploded I learned that he had secretly reached out to the club's pro for private lessons and didn't share any of it with me typical Mamba mentality we loved our matches and stories and memories we would share on those beautiful california days it was during one of those tennis conversations that the other newfound competitive love of his became so clear coaching Gianna's youth basketball team Kobe talked constantly about his dream to create the best youth girls basketball team on the planet and he did it started with his individual work with Gigi and quickly spread to all the girls on Team Mamba long practices every night precision and everything the individual drills the set plays the triangle cuts the defensive schemes it was all Kobe's masterpiece I will never forget with Kobe challenge my 12 year old sons all-star team to a game against his Mamba team yes girls versus boys Kobe hosted the game at a local highschool gym with refs timekeepers and all he coached from the bench but rarely said anything instead the mambas were so well prepared they functioned like a Swiss watch everything seemed scripted and versed our boys got smashed Kobe and GG took it all in stride that's what the mambas do Kobe's love for coaching grew and grew and grew I remember when Kobe turned 40 to celebrate our families flew to Cabo to spend a long weekend at one of the most beautiful ocean estates in the world what was the one thing Kobe wanted to do in this heavenly setting watch team Mamba game film with Gigi and me of course breaking down every play Kobe's love and passion for this team was the perfect representation of how deeply he loved his daughters at the center of all this was his precious Gigi whom my wife and I are blessed to be the godparents of from the moment Kristen and I dressed Gigi in her pure white lace baptismal dress as an infant she kicked and wiggled her way into our world like only a Taurus can gigi was an incredible combination of strength courage grace and dignity with a witty sense of humor that was simply captivating she smiled with her glittering eyes and was literally everything in the world that is good in our home Gianna and her sister Natalia had become the gold standard for character and kindness Gigi was love and grace and like her dad her life was about blessing blessing others simply put Gigi was Kobe's pride and joy on the basketball court and you could see it with every move she made if basketball was the love Kobe shared with Gigi with Nani Kobe shared a love for storytelling the two of them seemed to live out scenes of the most beautiful movie ever made cobia nanny had a common language built upon joy and inspiration they could remember and recite movie lines and sing Disney songs always fill in a room with smiles and laughter cobia nanak nanny created their own soundtrack for life it seemed and in it you could often find them dancing their days away together around young children Kobe was like Santa Claus dressed in everyday clothes Kobe had an unmatched energy to ignite kids and make them smile and laugh and love in my years as his agent I was told he was one of the most granted make-a-wish celebrities of our generation when Kobe met a make-a-wish kid It was as if heaven came down to the real world this exuberant sense of play captured the way Kobe would love and father his daughter Bibi like Kobe Bibi is a child of wonderment every moment of Bibi seems born out of joy and excitement and awe and Kobe had an ability to enter into that world with her Kobe also had an energy level that would match bebés when the two of them would play I imagined a world coming alive where toy animals would dance teacups would sing and rainbows would shine I had never seen anything like the two of them playing together if you think Kobe's hands were good with the basketball you should see how his hands were with his daughter Coco he literally had the golden touch watching him cuddle and put Coco to sleep and caress her made you realize just how tender Kobe was he is literally the Baby Whisperer and in his arms is where you would find Coco always content with peace Kobe would never miss a detail of his daughter's lives when he traveled with me for work he would spend hours on the phone connecting and listening to the stories of their days he just loved his girls and there was nothing in the world that meant more to him I remember being in the tunnel with Kobe right over there the last time he would wear his purple and gold Kobe fist-bumped each of his daughters before he ran out the tunnel and in Mamba speaks said something like here's what you do when the world tells you you can't do it anymore Kobe's sixty points and win night only is only outshined by his love for his family as the world's greatest girl dad Kobe's final side the husband when God made Kobe the next great act of his was to fashion Vanessa I know this because they are matched perfectly together and I've had a front-row seat to being witness to their love for 20 years I remember all the way back to their wedding day in 2001 in typical Kobe fashion he wanted to master every detail of that day to reflect his love for Vanessa one of the things he was most excited about was carrying Vanessa in his arms over the threshold of their home as a husband and wife for the first time Vanessa brought out Kobe's romantic side like nobody else in the world could he loved to celebrate holidays with her her birthday anniversary and especially Valentine's Day often he would call me to brainstorm his incredible ideas for special gifts and romantic occasions with her he even loved to write poems and letters to her and make them into beautiful keepsake books simply put Kobe's love for Vanessa was the energy for his life one particular story captures the depth of Kobe's love for Vanessa there was a stretch of days when work travel was causing Kobe to be away from Vanessa for longer than he wanted he called me to explain how hard this stretch was for him one night on the phone Kobe noticed there was a grand piano in the hotel suite he was staying in he set it back sat by a tall window under the moonlit sky during one of our calls he shared an idea with me he said he hadn't been sleeping much at night because he was visit missing Vee and the girls so much while he was away he wanted to live in his love for Vanessa so at night under the moonlit sky he vowed to teach himself by ear to play the first movement of Beethoven's moonlight sonata when he told me this I thought there's no way I knew he wasn't a trained musician and that was a really difficult piece of music to play but Kobe's passion and for Vanessa combined with the patience and focused that only the black mamba has made this seemingly impossible goal a reality that next morning Co be called and played me the first few measures the next morning more by the end of the week he had the entire piece mastered and he played it for me over the phone without a mistake in my heart I knew that moment was one of Kobe's grandest feats for his deepest love Kobe had mastered one of the greatest piano movements ever written as a symbol of one of the most beautiful loves the world has ever seen too close I will say this just as the Sun lights the moon to guide us through the night Kobe and Gigi will continue to shine light in all of us but unlike the Sun Kobe and Gigi's fuel will never ever burn out because their light is eternal yes the axis of our world shifted that frightful morning a few weeks back but with Kobe and Gigi's moonlight we will never have to live in the darkness of night again we will all journey on until one day we will be in heaven together again and this time it will be forever I love you dear Kobe and precious Gigi we love you Vanessa Nonnie Bibi Coco and we are here for you with great care until the end of our days [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Los Angeles Lakers

Views: 910,899

Keywords: Lakers, NBA, Basketball, Los Angeles, Showtime, LakeShow, LA, Sports, National Basketball Association

Id: FFC6cWtPW54

Length: 17min 50sec (1070 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 24 2020