NORMAN, Okla. — The world remains in shock.
In disbelief.
That feeling was also felt inside Oklahoma basketball’s practice facility on Monday.
As the Sooners prepared for its mid-week Big 12 conference game against Kansas State on Wednesday, the life of Kobe Bryant was felt. The numbers eight, 24 and 81 glistened on the scoreboards inside the Oklahoma practice facility as a tribute to the death of one of sports biggest icons.
Mamba & Gigi getting a fitting tribute today at Oklahoma’s practice. #Sooners pic.twitter.com/CGlumnV9JR
— Brayden Conover (@BraydenOKCLE) January 27, 2020
The shocking death of basketball legend Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others while taking a helicopter to Gianna’s basketball tournament at the Mamba Academy in downtown Los Angeles stopped not just the sports world, but the entire globe.
Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger and Austin Reaves talked to the entire media about Bryant’s impact on them and the basketball community. Another though, had the tragedy hit home the hardest.
“When I saw it I just broke down,” said freshman point guard De’Vion Harmon to Sooners Wire in a strong, yet broken voice after practice. “I remember my mom called me and I just lost it.”
Harmon was locked in during practice. He hustled to each spot of the floor, knocked down 3-pointers, posted up in the paint, played intense defense and even let a couple teammates know his frustrations. After practice, Harmon was shooting with fierce intent from around the arc as assistant coach Pooh Williams encouraged and pushed him along.
As soon as he finished, he began to reflect on one of his childhood heroes.
“My favorite player is LeBron, but my mindset, my mentality, was always Kobe,” Harmon said. “The player that he was over a 20-year career … you can’t beat that. There’s only one Kobe and for him to just die and pass away in that type of fashion just hurts the most, because he was just getting started. Like basketball just ended and he was (about to) do so much, probably even bigger things than he did when he was playing. Just what he meant to me … it’s crazy.”
Bryant sparked Harmon, just like he sparked hundreds, if not thousands of others. Getting to hear Bryant speak in person, Harmon reflected on a message that has stuck with him over the years.
“I remember I listened to Kobe talk one time in person and he told me, he told a group of us ‘If you love to do something, why not do it all the time? Why not try to do it as long and as much as possible? It’s what you love to do right?’ I remember listening to it and it really hit me.”
After he heard Bryant say that, Harmon immediately got to work.
He started waking up at 5 a.m. to get shots up with his dad before school. After another workout after school, Harmon would take a small break before hitting the gym one more time with his dad before going to bed, only to repeat the process the next morning.
For Harmon, the Mamba Mentality is not just for the basketball court, but for everything in life.
“He taught me that being a fierce competitor doesn’t mean you have to be heartless,” he said. “You can have a heart, you can show emotion, you can be vulnerable at times and you can still compete at a high level. I’m still going to want to play my game and be De’Vion Harmon but that Mamba Mentality is gonna be with me for the rest of my life.
“The day I have a family of my own, my wife and my kids, that’s what I’m going to try to teach them. I’m going to teach them what I know, just input Kobe in there and I think if I do that, I’ll be a great husband and a great father just like he was.”
Harmon’s greatest memory of Kobe was on his fifth birthday.
Now, his birthday is just a reminder of the man he wants to live by both on and off the court.
“Kobe scored 81 points on my birthday, Jan. 22nd, 2006,” Harmon said. “On my birthday next year, that’s probably going to hurt me a lot.
“I’m going to think about Kobe for the rest of my lifetime. When my birthday comes I’m gonna be thinking about him and his career-high. How he dropped 81 on the Toronto Raptors.”
A lot of us that grew up watching Kobe tried our best to replicate his jab step fade away in our driveways, have a similar drive that the Lakers’ legend sparked inside of us. It was always there, but Kobe was the match that lit the fire inside those who watched him.
I was a lot like Harmon on Sunday.
I got a text from a friend and my heart immediately sank.
It couldn’t be—not Kobe.
I constantly scrolled through Twitter, checking sources I could trust. Each one re-telling the horrible news.
He was and still is my generation’s Michael Jordan.
It wasn’t just about being an ambassador of basketball for Kobe—it was about being a father, a husband and a pillar in the community.
I think that’s why this loss hurts so much.
Kobe had a whole other life ahead of him. He was on his way to coach Gianna’s team when they passed. He was a father sharing his knowledge of the game he loved most with one of the people he loved most.
“Basketball is going to have a hole in it for the rest of time, “Harmon said. “No one’s going to ever fill this gap no matter how long it is. It can be another five, 10 years later from this moment and there will still be a hole because it’s Kobe. His personality just transcended basketball all across the globe.”
Harmon, right before he was done emotionally talking about his childhood hero, his childhood idol, mentor—even if Kobe didn’t know it—and before he went over to the chair on the sideline, sat down, crossed his arms and hung his head low deep in thought, summed up his and everyone’s thoughts on the passing of Kobe Bryant.
“It just hurts, man.”
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