CARBONDALE (WSIL) -- Southern Illinois men's basketball Graduate Assistant Coach Robby Dosier once met Kobe Bryant at a basketball camp.
The Carbondale native and former Marion High School star, recalled for WSIL Sports the three days he spent with the NBA legend.
When Dosier learned that Bryant had died, he was devastated.
"I had a fathead on my wall of Kobe when I was eight years old, he was my guy so when I got to meet him, it changed even more because I got to learn more about him as a person and not as much as a basketball player so when I did get that opportunity it was actually to help train his daughter's team who obviously three of those victims were on that team including his daughter Gigi and so it was three days in LA at what is now known as the Mamba Academy," Dosier said.
"We trained them for like eight hours a day and we were just with them all day and Kobe, you saw the dad Kobe was. He was there the whole time, he didn't leave their side and like he loved Gigi because she was his daughter but he loved all those girls."
" He really took pride in coaching that team, he joked, he ran the triangle offense with them."
"He loved those girls so when the news about Kobe came out, obviously that hurt, but when it came out it was his daughter, two of the other girls and one of the other victims was one of his assistant coaches that I got to meet as well, one of the other parents, just a tragedy that is felt around the world."
