University of Oregon women’s basketball coach Kelly Graves joined me on Monday for a discussion about the death of Kobe Bryant, who had become a friend of the program.
Listen to the full audio here.
Really worthwhile listen. Graves got choked up at one point when talking about what Bryant meant to star player Sabrina Ionescu and her teammates.
“He’s really become an ambassador for the sport, but he really touched our team," Graves said. "He was a Duck fan. His daughter, Gianna, was close to our program. Several of our players had personal relationships with Kobe and his family. He’d been to several of our games. We considered him part of our family, especially Sabrina. Sabrina and Kobe corresponded several times a week. He’d become a mentor to him.
"We all took it hard.”
Graves said of learning about the death of Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, and seven others:
“I rushed immediately down to the locker room hoping that hadn’t got to the team yet because I know one person in particular was going to take it really hard... they saw it, and the news spread in the locker room.”
On Kobe as a father:
“When we first met it was at the USC game down there last season. I was amazed at how humble he was, how gracious he was, how intelligent he was. He took time to talk with every one of my players who were down there to tell them what he saw and what he thought of their game. To me, that’s amazing... he talked to the team as a whole. I went away going, ‘Oh my God, this guy is so impressive.' You would not have known he was one of the greatest players of all time.”
On what Graves said to Kobe Bryant last month:
“I told him, ‘I want you to know I appreciate you being a tremendous role model for my basketball team. And as a dad myself, I want you to know how much it means to me that you’re such a good dad. That’s your highest calling.’ He agreed. I hugged him. I really appreciated that. Quite frankly, that’s something I’ll remember forever.”
Graves on Oregon State and Oregon players praying together before the game:
“There’s no question this is a rivalry. It was an amazing two games between two amazing basketball teams. But there’s a humanity about it that was really special. I credit Oregon State because they were the ones who first reached out to our team. It shows that we can be fierce rivals but still come together.”
Listen to the full interview with Graves here: