A statue of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, who died two years ago in a helicopter crash, has been erected where the tragedy occurred.
For the sad second anniversary of the death of the former NBA star and his daughter (January 26, 2020), sculptor Dan Medina paid tribute to Black Mamba with this statue symbolically erected in Calabasas, California, at the crash site.
It represents Kobe Bryant, wearing the Los Angeles Lakers jersey, his hand on the shoulder of his daughter who is holding a basketball in her left hand. “Heroes come and go, but legends are forever,” it says.
The names of the nine crash victims were inscribed on a plaque at the base of the statue: pilot Ara Zobayan, Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife Keri, and their daughter Alyssa, Christina Mauser, who helped Bryant coach her daughter’s basketball team, and Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton. Alyssa and Payton were Gianna’s teammates.
The bronze work, which weighs 73 kg and has been visited by many people, was only temporarily displayed on Wednesday. The artist hopes that a larger version will see the light of day on the site or in downtown Los Angeles.