Basketball legend and sports icon Kobe Bryant was one of the 9 victims of a helicopter crash that took place on Sunday, January 26. The chopper was a private one, carrying Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter to Mamba Academy for practice.
The helicopter, a Sikorsky S-76B built in 1991, had previously been property of the State of Illinois and was sold at an auction for a little over $550,000. It was never involved in any type of incident or accident, according to public records, and did not have a black box. Heavy fog could have been a factor in the crash.
While an investigation into the cause of the crash is underway, an older interview that Kobe gave in December 2018 to Barstool Sports’ podcast “The Corp” has reemerged, explaining why he chose to commute by private chopper instead of by car. The reason may perhaps surprise those who don't know too much of the star: it wasn’t because he was rich and could afford it, or because he didn’t want to mingle with regular people, but because he didn’t want to waste precious family time by getting stuck in traffic.
You will find the full interview at the bottom of the page. The segment in which Kobe talks about how he got into choppers is at around the 36-minute mark. Alex Rodriguez specifically asked him why he chose commuting by helicopter.
“Traffic [between Newport Beach and DTLA] started getting really, really bad and I was sitting in traffic and I wound up missing like a school play, because I was sitting in traffic,” Kobe says. “I had to figure out a way where I could still train and focus on the craft but still not compromise family time. So that’s when I looked into helicopters, to be able to get down and back in 15 minutes and that’s when it started.”
“My routine hasn’t changed. Weights early in the morning, kids to school, fly down, practice like crazy, do my extra work, media, everything I needed to do, fly back, get back in the carpool line, pick the kids up,” he continues. “And my wife was like ‘listen, I can pick them up.’ I'm like ‘no no no – I wanna do that.’ Because you know, you have road trips and times where you don't see your kids, man. So like every chance I get to see them and spend time with them, even if it's 20 minutes in the car, I want that.”
Driven by the need for excellence both in himself and others, Kobe was famous for his rigorous routine and discipline. In previous interviews, he’d talked about how he had to choose between compromising his craft or family time, and how he ended up compromising neither. Between his career or his family, he chose to compromise sleep, so he was always up at 4 or 5 in the morning to be able to fit everything in a day.
Kobe and wife Vanessa have 4 daughters. Capri wasn't born at the time of this interview. GiGi died with Kobe in the crash.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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