AMHERST — It sounds silly, but Paige McCormick didn’t watch the final moments of Kobe Bryant’s NBA career live.
This was the girl nicknamed “The Little Mamba” by her high school coaches because of her love for Kobe’s career. This was a girl who dreamed of watching Bryant play for the Los Angeles Lakers at the Staples Center. How could she not sit down and watch one last game, one last great moment in Bryant’s illustrious career.
Instead, McCormick went to bed with tears in her eyes because she couldn’t bear to watch the legacy end with the final buzzer. Over the last 3½ years, the UMass junior guard has seen the highlights from that night, but it wasn’t until Monday night that McCormick pulled up that final game and watched it.
“I was distraught and my dad thought it was the most ridiculous thing, but I said I can’t watch it, I was crying and went to bed that night,” McCormick said of Bryant’s final NBA game, April 13, 2016, vs. the Utah Jazz.
As soon as news broke that Bryant died Sunday in a helicopter crash with his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven other passengers, McCormick’s phone started blowing up. Her high school coach, one of her teachers from high school, friends and family checked in to make sure she was alright. Everyone who knew McCormick, knew what Bryant meant to her.
But in a larger sense, McCormick embodies what might end up being one of Bryant’s lasting impacts on this world. Especially in his retired life, Bryant became a strong advocate for women’s sports – especially women’s basketball – and he could be seen attending women’s games with Gianna from time to time. He befriended some of the best female college basketball players in the country and helped them as much as he could under NCAA rules.
Without prompting, McCormick drifted from calling Bryant her basketball idol to talking about the respect he gave women’s athletics and how much that meant to her.
“I have respected him since I started playing basketball and watching him, he’s the only reason I ever watched the NBA,” McCormick said. “Coming up as a Division I athlete and seeing him tweeting and posting and meeting with all these female athletes and working out with them and sharing his knowledge of the game, it means so much to me to see that. It makes me give him so much more respect for that.”
McCormick’s attachment to Bryant despite having never met him is not unique on the UMass campus or even in the Champions Center. Most of UMass’ players grew up watching and perhaps even idolizing Bryant. He was one of the premier superstars in the NBA during the childhoods of every player on both the men’s and women’s rosters, and all of them could probably pick out a different moment from his career as their favorite.
But it does seemingly mean just a little bit more to McCormick, whose Twitter feed is flooded with tweets and retweets about Bryant. Over the course of a five-minute conversation about Bryant, McCormick kept going back to how much he impacted the world outside of basketball and the universal respect he attained. She said she feels comfort knowing others saw what she saw in him, and is grateful to be among the people he impacted either directly or indirectly.
“I’m glad I wasn’t the only one that saw how great of a person he was and I love people are sharing it all over,” McCormick said. “It’s great to hear the stories of the people who were impacted that you didn’t think would be impacted. The incredible impact he had on so many people is so amazing.”