Big 5 basketball legend Joe Bryant has passed away at the age of 69 following a massive stroke, current La Salle head coach Fran Dunphy confirmed to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Bryant played for La Salle men’s basketball for two seasons between 1973 and 1975. The Philadelphia native and John Bartram High School graduate averaged 20.3 points and 11.1 rebounds for the Explorers.
On Tuesday morning, the La Salle men’s basketball program took to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to mourn the loss of Bryant.
In his second season with La Salle, Bryant led his team to the 1975 Big 5 Championship, going undefeated in league play. Notably, the Explorers prevented Penn men’s basketball from winning the program’s sixth straight Big 5 Championship off Bryant’s 25 points and game-winning shot during their lone matchup of the season.
Despite Bryant’s famous battles against the Red and Blue, the Philadelphia basketball great shared a court with the Quakers, as the Explorers also called the Palestra home during Bryant’s collegiate career.
Bryant would go on to be drafted by the Golden State Warriors in the 1975 NBA Draft prior to his draft rights being sold to the Philadelphia 76ers. In the NBA, Bryant played for the 76ers, San Diego Clippers, and Houston Rockets, regularly contributing off the bench. Bryant would later play professionally in Europe following an eight-season stint in the NBA.
Following his professional basketball career as a player, Bryant entered coaching. From 1993 to 1996, he rejoined the Big 5, serving as an assistant coach to his alma mater. While coaching for the Explorers, a local kid at Lower Merion High School was tearing up the Philadelphia high school hoop scene — his son, Kobe Bryant.
As Kobe Bryant was coming out of high school, there was strong speculation that he, too, would play collegiate basketball for the La Salle Explorers, especially since his father was now coaching for the Blue and Gold at the time. Many followers of Big 5 basketball were angered that the generational prospect had not already committed to play for the Explorers, a sentiment of plummeting recruiting trends in the league among Philadelphia natives.
In an interview following the District 1 high school semifinals held in the Palestra, a game that Kobe Bryant played in, Joe Bryant commented on the decrease in Philadelphia recruits playing for Big 5 schools.
“It's very unfortunate and sad. It angers and frustrates me. Kids in this area should go to these schools,” Joe Bryant told The Daily Pennsylvanian in 1996.
Despite this sentiment held by his father, Kobe Bryant would later opt to declare for the NBA Draft straight from high school. Joe Bryant held that he never pressured his son to play for the Explorers.
Following his tenure as an assistant coach for La Salle, Joe Bryant would go on to coach professional basketball for the American Basketball Association, the Women’s National Basketball Association, and overseas for the ASEAN Basketball League. Notably, Bryant coached the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks from 2005 to 2007, and once again in 2011. While in Los Angeles, he shared an arena with his son, who was carving out his NBA Hall of Fame career.
The Big 5 community and the greater Philadelphia basketball community will continue to mourn the loss of Joe Bryant in the coming weeks.
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