Kobe Bryant to receive Bill Sharman Humanitarian Award

When a frustrated and unhappy Kobe Bryant very publicly demanded a trade from the Lakers back in 2007, five years after the Kobe-Shaq Lakers had won the last of their three straight NBA championships, Bill Sharman sat down in his Redondo Beach home and wrote Kobe a personal note, one of several he wrote to him over the years.

“Bill really loved Kobe, and that year he advised him that the best thing he could do for himself and for his career was to stay a Laker for life,” Joyce Sharman recalled.

Bryant took the advice, won two more NBA championships in 2009 and 2010 when Pau Gasol came to town,  and a decade later now appears set to retire as a Laker after next season, the last year of his contract. When he does finally retire, he will be in the conversation as the greatest Laker of them all, along with first ballot Hall of Famers Magic Johnson, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

“Kobe recently told me he still has that note from Bill,” Joyce Sharman said. “It really meant a lot to him.”

The similarities between Bill Sharman and Bryant, two men born a half century apart, may not be immediately obvious. But they are striking to those who know both men well.

“They are both extremely focused people and fierce competitors,” said Joyce Sharman. “And they’re both good people off the court. Bill was long involved in charity work, and I’ve seen Kobe do a lot with the Make-a-Wish Foundation, having kids come into that Lakers locker room and enabling their wishes to come true.”

That is why, she says, Bryant will receive the second annual Bill Sharman Humanitarian Award in a ceremony next Saturday night at the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, an event expected to draw more than 700 people. The event will raise money for the Toberman Neighborhood Center in San Pedro.

Sharman, who died in November 2013 at age 87, was a 10-time All-Star with the Boston Celtics in the 1950’s, coached the Lakers to their first Los Angeles NBA championship in 1971-72 – a memorable season that included their record-setting 33-game win streak, a record that still stands – and is one of only three men, along with John Wooden and Lenny Wilkens, voted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach.

Bryant, who arrived in Los Angeles as a 17-year-old rookie fresh out of high school in the summer of 1996, has made the All-Star team 17 times and is now the leading scorer in Lakers history.

Lakers TV analyst Stu Lantz, who has watched Bryant play for 19 years, agreed with Joyce Sharman that Kobe and Bill Sharman share a lot of similarities.

“They’re both very, very fierce competitors,” Lantz said. “Winning every game was the ultimate goal for both of them, and they were both always working hard to be the best at their craft.”

Lantz, who will emcee the event Saturday night, insisted that Bryant’s personality is similar to Sharman, a man who was known as a sweetheart for his generous nature and eagerness to help people – two traits not usually associated with Bryant. But Lantz says there is a softer side to Bryant, a caring, selfless side that he doesn’t put on public display.

“Kobe has a Jekyll and Hyde type of personality,” Lantz said.  “On the court he has a facial expression that makes him look angry, but that’s just him being really focused and trying to accomplish his goals. Off the court he’s usually laughing and joking.”

The key to understanding the complex Bryant, he said, is that off the court he is just as dedicated to being a good man as he is to being a good player on the court.

“Both Kobe and his wife Vanessa are super people and very, very good parents,” Lantz said. “I’ve watched them raise their children, and their kids are the best of the best. I look at the children and I know what the parents are really like.”

Although Bryant is only the second winner of the Bill Sharman Humanitarian Award, the Toberman Center previously gave a similar “good citizen” award over the years. It has gone to legendary LA names,  like former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, Dodgers announcer Vin Scully, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Magic Johnson, former UCLA great Bill Walton, former Lakers great James Worthy, and former track star and World War II hero Louis Zamperini, the subject of the book and film “Unbroken.”

“They are all people who made such a huge difference in people’s lives and used their blessings for a cause,” Joyce Sharman said. “Just like Kobe.”

In the last decade of her husband’s life, Sharman said, the Toberman Center became more and more important to him. The 30,000 square foot center has a budget of more than $2 million, helps more than 7,000 families and spends the money on mentoring programs, computer classes, hot lunch programs, and exercise and sports programs with their full size gym.

“It tries to lift kids out of poverty and shield them from the threat of gang affiliations,” she said. “Some kids get their only hot meal of the day there. It truly is a safe haven for them.”

Another reason Bryant is getting the prestigious award, she said, is his work with the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Foundation.

“Their foundation embraces the same goals as the Toberman Center, trying to break the cycle of gangs and homelessness and provide a better future for kids that have no hope,” she said. “I’ve seen Kobe down on Skid Row working with homeless kids. But he does it quietly, so most of the public doesn’t know about it.”

Her only regret is that her husband won’t be there Saturday night to see Bryant get the award named for him.

“It would make Bill really proud,” she said. “He loved watching Kobe when he was a young man setting the world on fire, and he loved watching him grow as a human being to become the good man he is today.”

Lakers President Jeannie Buss will be presenting the award. Lakers coach Byron Scott will give a tribute to Bryant, and the night will include a silent auction with items like lunch with Lakers player Nick “Swaggy P” Young and dinner with Coach  Scott.

The Toberman Neighborhood Center will present the Bill Sharman Humanitarian award to Kobe and Vanessa Bryant April 4 at Terranea Resort (100 Terranea Way, Rancho Palos Verdes). Silent auction begins at 6 p.m., dinner and program 7:30 p.m. Individual ticket $350, table of 10 $3,250. Tickets are still available at Toberman.org or call 310-832-1145 ext. 119. Contact: paulteetor@verizon.net

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