Editor’s Note: The new series “KOBE: The Making of A Legend” follows Kobe Bryant’s story from his childhood in Italy to his athletic superstardom, and explores his post-NBA aspirations as a storyteller and as a father. An intimate look at hope. The three-part series premieres Saturday, January 25th at 9pm ET/PT.
CNN
–
Located in a peaceful corner of the quaint Italian city of Reggio Emilia is a small playground with a basketball hoop glued to the opponent’s wall. The playing field is worn, bicycles are supported around the perimeter, and the spire of a small local church juts above the surrounding buildings.
Beautiful, but initially unassuming and not a place to link to the glamorous world of the NBA.
But this little playground in an idyllic pocket of Italy was once the second home of Kobe Bryant, the greatest basketball player in history.
Bryant spent many of his formative years in Italy, as his father Joe decided to take his playing career to Europe after leaving the Houston Rockets in 1983.
Only six at the time, young Bryant was thrown into a new culture, a new language, and a new way of life, but it was a new world to which he quickly adapted and eventually fell in love.
Always following his father to different teams around the country, the family’s final stop in Italy was in Reggio Emilia, where Bryant met up with friend and former teammate Marco Ferragni.
Ferragni will be featured in CNN’s new original film and series documentary “Kobe: The Making of a Legend,” five years after Bryant’s death.
In the first episode, he explains how for two years the pair played together on a local youth team, with Bryant playing with a boy a year older because he was already too good for his own age. I’m here.
Even without organized team practice, Ferragni remembers spending “eternal afternoons” playing with Kobe in the small courthouse next to the church. Local priests allow them access during the day.
“We spent many hours there. One of my memories of Kobe is that he was always there,” Ferragni said.
“I remember Kobe being able to play basketball 1v1 as well. We’d have 1v1 or 3-point competition all afternoon. He was always there for the basketball.”
Ferragni recalls that young Bryant plays like his father, focusing on getting 3-pointers, which is “unique” for an Italian player of his age.
However, although the future NBA legend was physically smaller than many of his competitions, what stood out most to Ferragni was his American mentality, a trait that would later become famous worldwide.
“I remember playing with him on Saturday afternoons,” Ferragni recalls.
“We played all afternoon and it was very difficult for Kobe to leave because he didn’t want to lose his last game. I was a year older.
“And I was like, ‘No, no, no, play one more, play one more. I want to win. Play one more.’ So it’s like an endless afternoon playing with him. It was. ”
Infatuated with basketball in his youth, Bryant had little interest in school while living in Reggio Emilia.
His close childhood friend Giada Maslovalic remembers his first day at his new school – she was left in charge of keeping an eye on him and the pair soon met in their spare time. I started socializing.
Time is spent cycling through the city’s cobblestone streets, getting world-famous ice cream, and dreaming of the future.
“Kobe didn’t care about gossip, shallow stuff, but when he laughed, he really would, so he was good company,” Maslovalic told CNN.
Maslovaric had no interest in sports, let alone basketball, choosing instead to focus his attention on school work. Although their focuses didn’t align, Maslovalic believes the pair became such good friends because of their shared passion and determination to achieve.
“He’ll always say he’s going to play in the NBA,” she said. “Whenever the topic was mentioned, he wasn’t joking.”
“We laughed a lot, but the joke wasn’t funny to him. He wasn’t playing along with it. I was the only one laughing, he just said, ‘I’m not there. I’ll get there.” ”
Kobe will be proven right. After leaving Italy and returning to the United States, the youngster started making noise, becoming the first guard to be drafted straight out of high school by the Charlotte Hornets, and joining the Los Angeles Lakers in a trade in 1996.
Maslovalik watched from afar as her friend transformed into a world sensation, world champion, father and husband.
However, they would meet again much later in life in 2003.
Bryant was visiting Reggio Emilia and was looking for Maslovalic in his mother’s clothing store. Maslovaric’s mother rang her and handed the phone to Bryant. The two agreed to meet in two days.
Speaking in a CNN documentary, Maslovaric recalls some of the deep conversations he shared with the five-time NBA champion when the pair met again. She was fascinated by what his life was like now and whether he enjoyed fame.
In the documentary, she reveals that Reggio Emilia made it seem to her that Bryant could be normal and the process of becoming a superstar took its toll.
There was an element of isolation in his life, she said, and Bryant didn’t know who he could trust.
But that was the price she thinks the boy who played on that small court in an Italian playground was willing to pay for his love of basketball.
“The description I got was one of a beautiful, stunning cage made of platinum instead of gold.
“(That’s because) the life he chose allowed him to feel the very powerful emotions he felt as soon as he stepped into the courthouse. And every bar was beautiful and golden. And yet it disappeared in that moment, and it was worth it.”
It was the last time the pair met. Like millions around the world, Maslovalic watched in despair as news of Bryant’s death spread in 2020.
Like her, the city of Reggio Emilia shook and its residents mourned their adopted son.
In the years that followed, a town square was named in Bryant and his daughter Gianna’s honor as the community worked together to heal their “collective wounds.”
For Maslovaric, the mural and homage to Kobe is bittersweet. On the one hand, it serves as a constant reminder that she will never see her childhood friend again. But on the other hand, she understands the desire and need to honor Bryant given his lasting legacy in the city.
“I think Kobe left Reggio with the opportunity for every child, boy and girl, to have a dream and a normal life and be able to achieve that dream,” Maslovalic said of Bryant’s legacy. I added it by talking about it.
“And I think that’s extraordinary.”
