You may think there was no connection between Notre Dame and NBA legend Kobe Bryant, who passed away Sunday in a helicopter accident in southern California. You’d be wrong.
Though he bypassed college himself, said he would have gone to Duke if he had taken a pause before jumping to the NBA and was an unabashed fan of Connecticut women’s basketball, the soon-to-be Hall of Famer actually had multiple ties to the Irish. Most personally, Kobe and current Notre Dame sophomore receiver Braden Lenzy knew each other well enough for Kobe to occasionally offer individual advice as Lenzy’s athletic career blossomed.