Basketball superstar Kobe Bryant was killed at age 41, along with his 13-year old daughter, Gianna, and seven others, in a helicopter crash in Calabasas Sunday morning, according to multiple reports.

Bryant played the entirety of his 20-year career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Los Angeles Lakers, building a special bond with the Los Angeles community that watched him grow up from a 17-year-old kid straight out of high school to father of four.

In addition to his many accomplishments on the court, Bryant was an engaged member of the Los Angeles community, including in Santa Clarita.

Jim Ventress, who led the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Clarita Valley for nearly 30 years until his retirement in 2014, had the opportunity to interact with Bryant a number of times over the years.

“He came out to the club during a commercial shoot and he just wanted to kind of hang out. He was just really great with the kids,” said Ventress.

The commercial was shot in Glen Park in Valencia and is available to view on YouTube.

During his visit, Bryant spoke to the Keystone Club, a teen leadership program at the Boys & Girls Club, and gave a trademark-Kobe talk about hard work.

“He was just down to earth,” Ventress said. “When he was talking to the teams, it wasn’t all basketball, it was just about life, putting in the effort in whatever you do, that in life you have to give 100-plus percent.”

That dedication to hard work was part of what made the Lakers legend so endearing to his fans and helped grow Bryant into a larger-than-life figure.

Ventress shared another encounter with Bryant at one of the club’s Day For Kids events, where Bryant had another chance to spend time with some Santa Clarita children.

“He was just great with the kids, just spending time talking and taking pictures and signing anything they threw at him, even some faces,” Ventress said.

Their last encounter came at VIP Night at Magic Mountain, when Ventress spotted Bryant and brought a group of kids from the Boys & Girls Club up to the basketball superstar to say hello.

“He asked where we were going next and we told him Batman,” Ventress said. “He said, ‘That’s my favorite!’ and so we all went on it a couple of times in a row, him and the 11 or so kids we were with.”

Bryant was a titan of the basketball world, a five-time NBA champion, two-time Olympic gold medalist, an 18-time NBA All-Star, the league MVP in 2008 and came perhaps the closest anyone has to recreating Michael Jordan’s career.

He wouldn’t be satisfied with his basketball accomplishments, however, as Bryant went on to become an Oscar-winner for his 2018 short “Dear Basketball.”

“When he got the Oscar, it was like, alright, he’s got these other chapters coming for us, but now it’s like only half his book is completed, he was in the second half and we had so much to go,” Ventress said. “I think I’m just going to miss the possibilities, and I just keep thinking about his daughters, he’s not going to be able to give away his daughters (at their weddings).”

The Lakers have been home to some of the greatest NBA players in history, whether Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabaar, Magic Johnson or Shaquille O’Neal, and yet Bryant undoubtedly holds a unique place in the hearts and minds of Lakers fans.

Many expected Bryant to be a part of the basketball world for years to come, whether on the sidelines cheering on future Lakers playoff runs, as a champion for women’s basketball or at his eventual Hall of Fame induction, no one was ready to say goodbye to Kobe Bryant.

“The last time my brother and I cried together was when our mom passed away, and this had us like two little boys crying again,” Ventress said. “It just hit hard.”

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