How Kobe Bryant Spread the Joy of Being a Girl Dad

Kobe Bryant & Daughter Gianna Honored With Moving Father-Daughter Statue

Kobe Bryant‘s legendary Lakers career was behind him, the stats safely secured for his eventual inclusion in the NBA Hall of Fame, his two numbers retired, his five championship rings under lock and key. All that was squared away.

But he was still coming into his own as a family man when he was killed in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, 2020, along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna “Gigi” Bryant and seven others.

A statue immortalizing the pair was installed outside Crypto.com Arena‘s 11th Street entrance earlier this month, the iron tableau an homage to an instant-classic shot of father and daughter sitting courtside at the Dec. 29, 2019, Los Angeles Lakers game, forever sharing a moment.

The piece, designed by Karon Davis and crafted by the artists of Rotblatt Amrany Studio, is called “Girl Dad.”

A plaque next to it boasts a quote from Kobe, identified there not as a five-time NBA champion, but as “Most Valuable Girl Dad,” that reads, “Gianna is a beast. She’s better than I was at her age. She’s got it. Girls are amazing. I would have five more girls if I could. I’m a girl dad.”

For years, Kobe had traveled via helicopter the way most people hop into their cars and drive, the superstar athlete turned entrepreneur, author, producer and girls basketball coach not wanting to waste precious time stuck in L.A. traffic.

When they died, he and Gianna had been on their way to a tournament at the Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, about 82 miles away from the family’s home in Newport Beach. Also killed were two of her youth basketball league teammates, Alyssa Altobelli and Payton Chester, Alyssa’s parents John and Keri Altobelli, Payton’s mom Sarah Chester, assistant coach Christina Mauser and pilot Ara Zobayan.

Gigi’s love of the game and promising talent had served as a bridge back to basketball for Kobe, who retired in 2016.

As his life was being examined from every angle after the crash, there was an ESPN segment that particularly stood out amid all the rest, one that paid tribute to an aspect of Kobe’s life that both highlighted his best qualities and proved far more relatable than the ability to score 81 points in a game.

Asked if he wanted more children, the father of then only three—Natalia, now 21, Gigi and Bianka, now 7—said that wife Vanessa Bryant was up for trying again. As for what he would do if he became a dad to four girls, Kobe told Duncan, “I would have five more girls if I could. I’m a girl dad.”

He and Vanessa welcomed daughter Capri in June 2019.

With tears welling, Duncan—mom to daughter Eva—signed off, saying, “When I reflect on this tragedy and that half an hour that I spent with Kobe Bryant two years ago, I suppose that the only small source of comfort for me is knowing that he died doing what he loved the most—being a dad. Being a girl dad.” 

And with that, #girldad started trending worldwide, dads—and women posting pictures of dads and grandpas—using the hashtag to unite as one proud family, a network of people who may have been grieving but who also were damn proud to be the fathers of daughters, joined by the girls-of-all-ages who loved them for it.

“I’m so proud and lucky to be a #GirlDad,” tweeted Alex Rodriguez, father of Natasha, now 19, and Ella, 16, sharing the SportsCenter clip.

Olympic decathlete Trey Hardee (a father of two daughters and, since October 2020, a son), tweeted, “Being a girl dad has been the best part of my short life. I wish I knew about this part of Kobe. This will be his lasting impression on me. Not the wins, rings, or records. #girldad.”

Now more than four years since Kobe’s death, that hashtag remains a fixture on social media—so if you’re in the mood to have your heart warmed, a quick scroll through the results of a #girldad search should suffice.

The term itself, which Kobe—who would’ve only been 46 on Aug. 23—didn’t invent but certainly gave a winning assist to, has simply been cemented in the cultural lexicon.

And parents aren’t the only ones who have been appreciating the additional attention being paid to budding female sports stars, as Gigi Bryant was.

Kami Miner, whose father is former NBA player Harold Miner, told the Los Angeles Times, “It hurt my entire family when [Kobe] passed away. It was great to see the media focus on how he was as a father and that these athletes are trying to pass on what they learned to their children.”

“Hearing about Kobe and the relationship he had with his daughters,” she continued, “it gave some visibility to girls’ sports and hopefully that trend continues. There’s a lot of girl athletes come of age. They deserve it. They train as hard as the boys.”

MacKenly Randolph, daughter of two-time NBA All-Star Zach Randolph, was coached by Kobe at the Mamba Sports Academy (since renamed Sports Academy, the “Mamba” retired) and had made the same helicopter trip from Newport to Thousand Oaks with him and Gigi a week before they died. “He basically taught me how to play defense and how to rotate,” the teen told The New York Times. As a coach, “You would know when he’s mad, or he’s not playing around, but he would never, like, yell at you.”

Zach added, “He loved them girls. He loved my baby. He told me, ‘I love her, man.’ When he told me that, I told him, ‘We’re brothers for life.'”

And he certainly understood where Kobe was coming from. “It’s a great feeling,” Zach, also dad to daughter Maziya as well as three sons, told the Los Angeles Times. “Girl dad, oh man. I wouldn’t change it for anything.”

Keep reading to see more of Kobe Bryant’s MVP moments as a girl dad: