La Salle College Athletics is saddened by the lack of males’s basketball legend Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, who handed away on Monday morning.
Bryant, the daddy of NBA Corridor of Famer Kobe Bryant, who handed away in 2020, was a star participant at La Salle from 1973-75. He was a key member of the 1975 East Coast Convention Championship staff, incomes the Explorers an NCAA Match berth.
“I’m heartbroken by the sudden lack of my uncle,” mentioned La Salle males’s basketball assistant coach and Bryant’s nephew, John Cox. “He was a basketball icon within the metropolis of Philadelphia and somebody I grew up admiring. The affect he has made each right here at La Salle and within the Philly basketball neighborhood shall be felt for years to come back.”
A two-time First Crew All-Large 5 choice in 1974 and 1975, Bryant led La Salle to a 22-7 report in 1975, together with a Sugar Bowl Basic Championship through which he was named match MVP. The ’75 staff climbed to as excessive No. 7 within the Related Press High 25 Ballot en path to La Salle’s first NCAA Match berth since 1968. He ranks seventh all-time in profession rebounding common (11.9), ninth in scoring common (20.7), and tenth in profession area aim share (48.6).
In simply two seasons with the Explorers, the 6-9 ahead scored 1,188 factors. He twice earned Nationwide Affiliation of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-District honors, in 1974 on the Third Crew and in 1975 with First Crew recognition. Bryant was drafted 14th total by the Golden State Warriors within the 1975 Nationwide Basketball Affiliation (NBA) Draft earlier than being acquired by his hometown Philadelphia 76ers later that yr.
Bryant performed eight years within the NBA, spending 4 with the Sixers from 1975-79, and three with the San Diego Clippers (1979-82). His final season within the league was spent with the Houston Rockets earlier than spending 9 years abroad enjoying professionally in France and Italy. He averaged 8.7 factors and 4.0 rebounds in 606 profession NBA video games.
Following his enjoying profession, Bryant spent a number of years in numerous teaching roles, together with time as an assistant on the Explorers’ workers from 1993-96. He additionally had two stints as head coach of the Ladies’s Nationwide Basketball Affiliation’s Los Angeles Sparks.
In 1981, Bryant was inducted into the Large 5 Corridor of Fame.